Hopps & Robbers
by redman404
Summary: Almost a year has passed since Judy first met the smug con artist of a fox that is Nick Wilde. Now the two of them are cleaning up the streets of Zootopia as partners on the ZPD. When the rabbit and fox duo are assigned to a case that bares an eerie similarity to the one that started it all, they will have to team up with an unlikely ally in order to get to the truth.
1. Prologue

"Our top story tonight comes from the city of Zootopia" The lion news anchor spoke in his calm yet commanding voice.

Alex enjoyed watching the news about Zootopia, it was always playing on the small, dusty TV in the upper corner of Mr. Diez's shop. Like everything else in the dull convenience store it was old and battered and way overdue for an upgrade. The fact that the ancient thing still turned on amazed him. It wasn't fun, but it helped to kill time while he slowly wasted his life away making minimum wage.

"A generous individual, who wishes to remain anonymous, has graciously donated several rare, classic paintings the Zootopian Museum of Art and Design."

Although working for the old porcupine was less than ideal, Mr. Diez provided Alex a stable job, which was hard to come by in his struggling town. With businesses closing left and right, the only thing keeping the little shack from going under was the abundance of overpriced alcohol in the back.

"These beautifully preserved works include pieces by Vincent Ram Gogh and Lionardo Da Vinci."

Alex had been trying to save what little money he earned while working at the shop. One day he hoped to get away from this abysmal place and attend the University of Zootopia. After all in Zootopia, anyone can be anything.

"The display should be open to the public by-" The quiet background noise was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey Alex!" Mr. Diez called from behind the counter, "Looks like we got another drunk outside. Take care of him, will ya."

The young Jaguar looked up from where he stood sweeping up at the front of the store.

Outside, stumbling around in the parking lot was a grey wolf. Great. Out of all the species why did it have to be a wolf? Alex had dealt with these situations many times before and readied himself to confront the notoriously unpredictable animal.

"Alright," Alex responded to his boss, "let the police know, I'll keep him busy until they pick him up."

He stepped outside into the empty parking lot. The single light on the side of the building illuminated the now stationary wolf as Alex approached with caution.

"Good evening, sir" Alex greeted him politely.

The wolf looked up at him and right away Alex knew something was wrong.

"Are you alright?" He questioned with genuine concern.

The wolf was ragged in appearance, wearing ripped sweatpants and an orange shirt with far too many holes in it. He was hobbling along on what looked like a broken ankle, and had a strange collar around his neck.

"It's not…" Alex heard the wolf struggle to speak. He looked exhausted and must be in unknown amounts of pain.

"Sir, please sit down, we'll get you some help" Alex tried to help the wolf over to the bench outside the store, but as he moved towards him, the wolf suddenly jumped backwards with a surprising burst of energy.

"NO!" exclaimed the fatigued wolf, as Alex could see his remaining strength draining by the second.

"You mustn't trust the spots." He said faintly, between wheezy breaths.

Just then a police car pulled up and two officers got out.

"Quick, get an ambulance!" Alex called over to them

He turned his attention back to the wolf to see an expression of pure terror wash across his disheveled face.

Before anyone could react, the collar around the wolf's neck began blinking.

"It's the s-" he cried, but it was too late

The wolf's words were cut short as he dropped to the ground, motionless.


	2. Chapter 1: The Stakeout

"Nick. Hey Nick. Get up you dumb fox." Judy said to her partner who was napping in the passenger's seat of the police cruiser.

Partners. Nick and Judy were more than just partners. They were best friends.

Ever since Nick joined the ZPD and became Judy's partner, the two of them have been inseparable. Although he was still a rookie, only three months out of the academy, Nick had already proven himself as an officer. He was clever and had a way with people, it's what had made him such a good con man back when they first met. Almost everyone was friends with Nick. Almost. The rest didn't think too highly of his past antics. Either way, Nick's resourcefulness, and Judy's determination made them quite an effective pair. While they sometimes employed 'unusual' methods, the two of them were arguably the best officers in their precinct. That is the reason Chief Bogo put them on their current case. Five missing mammals and very few leads, oddly similar to the first case Nick and Judy solved way back when.

"Uggggghhhhh, five more minutes." Nick replied as he slunk lower into the seat where he had been confined for the past three hours. Judy called in a stakeout, he called it nap time.

"Come on, he's here." Judy informed Nick as she was already halfway out of the car. Unlike Nick, she had used the quiet moments of waiting to work on the case. Try as she might though, the intrepid young rabbit could not find any connection between the mammals that had gone missing within the past two weeks. Hopefully their current lead would get them pointed in the right direction.

"Fine…Hey carrots, wait up!" Nick called as he sprang awake and grabbed his sunglasses from where they sat on the dash. Finally, it was time for some action.

Nick jumped out into the alley where the unmarked cruiser was parked. A pile of wooden pallets sat next to an overflowing dumpster at one end, the other offered a perfect vantage point for watching the buildings across the street.

"I thought you were going to sleep through the whole thing, again." Judy teased as Nick donned his reflective aviators. What a sight. The proud fox standing in front of her was a far cry from the lowly pawpsicle hustler of the past. He had come such a long way, it didn't feel real.

"Hey! It wasn't my fault I got hit with that tranq dart." Nick responded in kind. He may have become a cop but not everything had changed, he was still the same old Nick.

"Excuses, excuses" Judy said as she began walking towards the main road at the end of the alley.

"So who's our guy?" Nick asked, following behind her. He never did pay much attention during the morning briefings.

"James Lambert, he's the ram right over there" Judy motioned towards a lone male sheep walking down the stairs from one of the many apartment buildings that lined downtown Zootopia.

"He was the last person seen with Mr. Higgins before he went missing." She continued.

The two crossed the street and approached the sharply dressed ram. He bore a black suit which contrasted greatly with the near perfect whiteness of his wool. Even for a sheep he seemed quite well groomed. The addition of a small briefcase made the ram look as though he had just stepped out of a spy movie. The only thing missing was a supervillain bent on world domination, and some gratuitous explosions.

The comparatively unimposing rabbit and fox duo caught up with the ram who looked to be in a hurry.

"Excuse me, Mr. Lambert?" Nick spoke in the same gentle tone that he had perfected during his hustling career, "I'm Officer Wilde and this is Officer Hopps of the ZPD."

"We'd like to ask you a few questions regarding Theodore Higgins." Judy explained.

"Teddy? The wolf?" The ram replied in an unexpectedly timid tone.

"Yes, Mr. Higgins went missing a few days ago and according to our records you were the last individual to be seen with him." Judy informed the nervous Mr. Lambert.

"I-I don't really-uh well, I mean." He struggled to form a coherent response. The ram may have looked like a suave secret agent, but he sure didn't act like one.

"You were with him at…" Judy flipped through her case notes to check the details, "'The Smoothie Spot' in Sahara Square on Tuesday, correct?"

"Y-Yes, I guess-I think so."

"Look James. Can I call you James?" Nick intervened to help the obviously nervous sheep, "We just want to know how you came to know our wolf friend and where he may have gone."

"Um-Right, well Teddy is, sorry, was my…uh…business partner. The last time I saw him we were discussing a new project over lunch. I haven't heard for him in a couple of days, I figured he just didn't like my proposal."

"And where did Teddy go after your meeting?" Nick continued.

"Um, h-home? I don't really know, I'm sorry."

"No, no you're doing great" Judy encouraged, "Did he have any other business partners? Any places he might stop after meetings? Anything else you can think of that might be useful?"

"N-Not really. I didn't know him that well, we just met last month."

"That's okay, can you tell me how the two of you met?" Judy inquired.

"Well, he was-he was working for a, uh, friend of mine. He just, well I, we-uh, you know. Sorry."

"Would you mind explaining what the nature of your business with Mr. Higgins was?" Nick pressed the uneasy ram with one more question.

"I wish I could, but that is not something I am able to disclose." James explained.

It was clear they were getting nowhere fast with Mr. Lambert, so Judy wrapped it up.

"We understand" She said almost apologetically, "Feel free to call the station if you think of any more information that could help us locate Mr. Higgins."

"Sure thing. I'm sorry, I'm running late for a meeting, please let me know if they find Teddy." The sheep said quickly as he regained his composure and hurried down the street, joining the hundreds of others going about their daily routines in Savanna Central.

It was a little after five, so the streets were flooded with all kinds of animals, some coming home from work, others just enjoying the day. In the middle of all the commotion stood a rabbit and a fox, two cops looking on as their last lead disappeared into the mass of a city they had sworn to protect.

"Well that was a huge waste of time." Judy said as the two of them shifted attention from the ram to each other.

"Are you kidding me? That was the most helpful lead yet!"

Judy looked questioningly at her partner, unable to tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

"Haven't I taught you anything carrots? That 'Mr. Lambert' isn't fooling anyone." Nick answered Judy with a smug grin.

"What?" Judy wasn't following.

" _Oh no, I'm a helpless little sheep. I'm sorry I can't help you officers._ " Nick imitated the scared tone of the ram's responses.

"You think he knows something?" Judy said beginning to catch on.

"Ding-Ding-Ding. Look who's starting to get it." Nick joked as he gave Judy a pat on the head, which she didn't take too kindly to.

"What do you think he knows?" Judy followed up.

"Now that is the real question." Nick replied, "And what we need to find out."

"Should we follow him?" Judy asked excitedly, as the lead was finally beginning to pay off.

"No, he'd notice if we tailed him. We'll have to get some other units to keep an eye on him from a distance."

"Alright, let's get back to the car and radio-" Judy cut herself off as the two looked towards the alley where the unmarked cruiser was parked.

"Bwahahaha!" Nick burst out laughing as he saw the bizarre blue van parked right in front of their cruiser, illegally blocking the entrance to the alley.

"Well I'm convinced. The universe hates me." Judy said half seriously. It was hard to be upset with Nick's howling laughter in the background.

"You want to look around for the owner while I call in for a tow?" Although she was less than thrilled with the unexpected obstacle, Judy couldn't help but chuckle as she went around the blue monstrosity to grab the radio in the cruiser.

"How could you even think of impounding this beauty?" Nick teased, admiring the artwork proudly displayed on the vehicle, the flame decals on the front were a nice touch. It reminded him of Finnick's van, only way cooler, there was even a set of fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror. Classic.

"You're impossible" Judy commented as she jumped inside and grabbed the radio.

"Hopps to dispatch" She paged Clawhauser.

"Go ahead" The familiar, cheerful voice answered.

"I've got a 586 on Crest Ave, he's blocking our cruiser. 11-85"

"10-4 I'll get one your way asap. How'd it go?"

"Thanks Ben, about that, can you spare any units to keep an eye on a Mr. James Lambert? Looking for a 10-66, last seen at the corner of Crest and Linder"

"10-4 Gimme a sec"

The radio went silent while Clawhauser put the word out. Judy glanced out the front of the cruiser. Nick was still taking in the 'beauty' of the van as he passed by, attempting to locate the driver. Judy smirked as she thought about the day's events. Nothing hadn't gone quite as expected, but then again, when do they ever?

"Dispatch to Hopps"

"Go"

"Delgato and Wolford are rolling Code 2 on it"

"10-4 Hopps out"

Judy placed the transmitter back on its hook as Nick made his way over to the cruiser.

"Whoever drives that stunning piece of machinery is M.I.A." he said as he climbed into the passenger seat.

"There is something seriously wrong with you" Judy responded straight faced.

A few minutes later the tow truck arrived and, much to Nick's dismay, hauled the eyesore of a van away. As the two of them started up the cruiser and got ready to head back to the station, the radio crackled to life with a worried sounding Clawhauser on the other end.

"Dispatch to Hopps and Wilde"

Nick grabbed the radio, putting on his serious face. Whatever this was, it couldn't be good.

"Go for Wilde"

"You two need to be 10-19 right now"

"We're on our way, what is it?"

"Hopps, Wilde." They heard Bogo's voice rumble through the receiver "We have a problem"

"What happened?" Nick asked as Judy looked over at him uneasily.

"We found your missing wolf"

"Great, so then what's the problem?" Nick replied. He and Judy already knew the answer, they could hear it in Bogo's voice, but they could still hope it wasn't the case.

"His body was recovered last night"

* * *

Hi everyone, first I'd like to thank you all for reading my story, I hope you are enjoying it so far. Second, some general notes. This is the first fanfiction I have ever written so bear with me, I'm not expecting it to be perfect but with any luck my writing should improve as the story progresses. With that, any and all reviews are appreciated, tell me what you think, feedback of any kind is welcomed. Finally, I do not have a set schedule for uploading new chapters, they will be posted as I complete them, which hopefully should be about every week or so, depending on school and work. Again, thanks for reading, see you all in chapter 2.


	3. Chapter 2: Emotion Commotion

Judy slammed a fist into the dashboard.

Words could not express the rush of emotions she was feeling all at once. The young rabbit may have been on the force longer than Nick, but she had never lost someone on a case. Until now. More than anything, Judy felt an overwhelming sense of failure. It was her duty to protect the inhabitants of Zootopia, and she had failed.

"I'll give you the full brief back at the station." Bogo's voice changed pitch ever so slightly in an attempt to comfort Judy. He knew how she felt, but there wasn't much he could do for her right now.

A million thoughts flew through her mind as Judy put the cruiser in drive and headed out towards the station.

'Why didn't I solve the case?'

'What am I missing?'

'Who did it?'

'Why did they do it?'

'How could I have stopped them?'

The questions repeated themselves over and over in her head, no answer to be found.

Judy was so caught up in her own thoughts, she almost didn't hear Nick. He had been silent since Bogo broke the news, something that would normally be cause for concern. While Judy's mind ran crazy with questions, ideas, and every possible emotion, Nick was only thinking about one thing.

"Did he have a family?"

He spoke softly, sincerely, a tone Judy hadn't heard from him in a long time. She looked over at the usually smug fox to see a face bearing no expression whatsoever. This caught her off guard, her train of thought ground to a halt. She knew that look, or lack thereof. Nick was good at hiding his emotions, but Judy could tell something was deeply troubling him. Her look told Nick exactly what she was thinking.

"Was he a dad?"

It took her a minute to process exactly what he was asking, but Judy answered honestly.

"No…No family."

Her response was brief, but more importantly, it was the truth. A hint of relief flashed across Nick's face, before disappearing as he turned away. He had gotten his answer, but whatever was troubling him wasn't going away.

As Judy opened her mouth to ask Nick what was wrong, he spoke again.

"I was only nine when I lost my dad…"

"…I didn't really understand at the time."

Nick had a rough childhood. His family struggled to make ends meet. Back then predators were treated far worse than when Judy first joined the ZPD. No animal would dare trust a 'shifty fox'. Throughout all the hardships Nick's dad remained optimistic, always putting on a smile for his son. He was a good man, and an inspiration to Nick. After he passed away, Nick's mother had to support the two of them, making barely enough to survive. The happy young fox was forced very quickly to accept the reality of life, the reality of being a predator in a world made for prey.

The memories of his past hardships started to show on Nick's face. A shake of the head and he snapped out of it. Nick turned to Judy, looking determined and firm.

"No one should ever have to go through that."

Judy's own problems vanished as she joined Nick is his determination.

"Then let's make sure no one does."

She motioned to the case file sitting in the center console.

"We can start by finding the other four missing mammals."

Nick picked up the file and began looking it over, something he should have done when they first took the case.

"Woah! Hey carrots, look."

"What did you find!?" Judy asked excitedly, hopeful Nick had noticed something she had missed.

Nick turned the file to face Judy and pointed to a picture of an elephant at the top of one of the pages.

"Mr. Winslow has a terrible fashion sense."

Judy rolled her eyes, it sure didn't take long for Nick to get back to normal, or at least as normal as he could get.

As he continued reviewing the file, Nick noticed a strange similarity between the mammals involved.

"Hey carrots, were these guys all lonely or what?"

"What do you mean?"

"None of them have any family at all."

"Just a coincidence?"

"No way, they don't even have any parents listed." Nick pointed out the large, empty box on the file labeled 'Family'.

"Also you are a terrible detective."

Judy really had no clue how she missed that.

Luckily she was saved from further ridicule by the sight of the station up the road.

"We're here!" She exclaimed, completely ignoring Nick's remark.

There were more vehicles than usual surrounding the station, probably as result of the recent developments regarding their case. Still, there was never this many people interested in the other homicides. Judy spotted a few cars between the news crews out front she didn't recognize. They had those single police lights on them, like they might see on the old detective's cars. They pulled into the garage and the two of them headed into the station, ready for anything.

Inside was even worse, there were officers, reporters, and concerned citizens running around everywhere. Several groups of cops neither of them had seen before stood scattered about the main floor, seemingly undaunted by the commotion around them. Clawhauser spotted the duo from across the room.

"Nick! Judy! Wow am I glad to see you two."

"What in the world is going on Ben?" Judy asked as they made their way to the front desk. Nick was busy acting out his 'cool cop' persona for the cameras. He always had to make a scene.

"The past hour has been C-R-A-Z-Y" The cheetah explained in his ever-cheerful voice, "The chief will explain it all to you, he's in his office, I'll let him know you're here."

"Thanks, good luck with all…this" Judy motioned to the whole room, which was a complete mess of activity.

The two of them navigated their way through the crowd towards Bogo's office. He opened the door and greeted them as they approached.

"Hopps, Wilde, there are some people here I would like you to meet."

Bogo's office was a mess of paperwork and equipment. He generally kept it well organized, but considering all the commotion going in it wasn't a big surprise. Inside were two other officers, or at least Judy assumed they were, due to the badges worn around their necks. They were seated around Bogo's desk, which was acting as a makeshift conference table. Both of them stood to greet Nick and Judy as they entered. The one closest to them was a very feisty looking female fox. She had on a light brown leather jacket and dark blue pants, a single earing hung from her left ear, and a rather large red shock pistol sat holstered on her belt. It seemed Nick wasn't the first ever fox cop. Next to her stood a relatively unassuming weasel dressed like a typical office cop. He wore dark brown pants, matching suspenders, white button down shirt, brown tie, the whole nine yards. Bogo proceeded to introduce everyone.

"This is Inspector Carmelita Fox, and her partner, Constable Oliver Winthrop, from Interpol."

Nick and Judy were both taken aback. If Interpol was involved, it meant something serious was going on. Bogo continued, shifting attention to the two Interpol agents

"And these are officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde, they were assigned to the case."

"Um chief," Judy began questioningly, "what exactly is going on?"

"Inspector Fox, would you care to explain?" Bogo deferred as he took at seat behind his desk, motioning for everyone else to follow suit.

"Hopps is it?" the inceptor spoke with a light Spanish accent, "You were searching for five missing mammals and we found them, well three of them at least."

"But that still doesn't explain-" Judy's question was answered before she could finish asking it.

"The problem is where we found them. Higgins was discovered in central Mexico. The body of a skunk, believed to be yours, was picked up in western Germany, we are still confirming the identity, that one wasn't pretty. The goat, Collins, was found dead on the east coast of Canada."

Judy and Nick just sat there, trying to process the news, and how calmly the inspector delivered it to them. Her partner continued with the explanation.

"With multiple countries involved, this case now falls under Interpol jurisdiction, so here we are." He explained with a slight smile at the end.

"They already have our case file," The chief addressed Judy and Nick, "but they'll need any additional information you two have on this."

"Are we losing the case?" Judy asked, looking dejected.

"Not exactly, Fox's team will be leading the investigation, but we are giving them our full support. The two of you will be working with her. They might know this case, but you two know this city."

Judy didn't like working under others, she preferred her own methods. But Interpol were professionals, Inspector Fox looked like she had done this a thousand times. Nick on the other hand, was strangely excited. He was the first to discuss the case with the vixen.

"Alright, we tracked down this ram, James Lambert, he was the last guy seen with Higgins before he disappeared. He definitely knows something, but he won't admit it."

"And what makes you so sure?" Carmelita responded.

"Nick is really good at reading people," Judy chimed in, "He used to be a con artist before joining the force, years of experience."

At this Nick leaned back in his chair, classic smug grin on his face. Carmelita scoffed, her demeanor changed instantly.

"I've worked with his type before," The now scowling Inspector said, "No good, two-timing, CRIMINALS!"

Everyone in the room, even Bogo, seemed a little surprised by how quickly the otherwise calm fox went into psycho territory. Well everyone except Winthrop.

"I'm sorry, I just, I have a bad history with backstabbing thieves. Please go on."

Although she appeared to have calmed down, Nick was hesitant to continue. Judy stepped in to let her partner recover for a minute.

"We also noticed that all of the missing mammals have no family at all, or at least none according to our system."

"Interesting, I'll have someone look into that. In the mean time I need the two of you to-"

She was interrupted by a knock at the door. Before anyone could give a response, a rhino opened it and peeked inside.

"Inspector Fox, we have news."

"What is it Sargent?"

"We interrogated the witnesses from Mexico. I think you should see the report."

"Good, I'll be right there."

Carmelita stood up and turned to Chief Bogo.

"Let's go, this concerns you too."

"Right." Bogo got up and rounded his desk, "Hopps, Wilde, we'll continue with this tomorrow. Dismissed."

The two of them exited the room, leaving behind two ZPD officers with a lot of information to sort out, and one Constable who was busy writing something down on his notepad. Nick and Judy turned to each other and shared uneasy looks.

"Well, she is quite something." Judy said to her partner.

"And I thought Finnick had a bad temper."

They chuckled for a moment, breaking the air of apprehension.

"Sorry about Carmelita," The weasel spoke up from where he sat, "She can be tense at times, and she's really black and white with her views on the law, but she is a good cop."

He put his notepad away and scooted his chair closer to Judy and Nick, a bright expression on his face.

"I for one find you two quite inspirational." He extended his paw to them. "I'm Oliver by the way, in case you didn't hear earlier."

They all shook hands, and finally began to relax.

"I don't get to go on too many field assignments." he continued, "But after hearing about Zootopia's first rabbit and fox officers, the higher-ups decided to give me a chance."

"Glad we could help." Judy said with a genuine smile.

"Unfortunately for you Nick, it's going to take a lot of work to get you on Inspector Fox's good side."

"Don't worry," Nick said in that smooth tone of his, "I know just how to deal with someone like her."

"I don't know, Carmelita really does not like criminals, even the well-meaning ones."

"She may not like you," Judy spoke in Nick's defense, "but everyone else here does, hopefully she can respect that."

Constable Winthrop checked his watch and got up hastily, realizing how long he had stayed behind.

"I should be checking on the Inspector. She tends to get a little crazy when left alone. Good meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too." Judy called to him cheerfully as he left the office.

"He seems nice" She said to Nick, who was sitting there, a devious grin on his face.

"No, nononononononono. You are not going to antagonize Carmelita."

"Aw, come on carrots, it'll be so much fun. Just think, so much potential."

Nick stood up and made his way to the door, getting ready to head out and away from the ongoing chaos around them. Judy jumped out of her seat as he passed, she caught up with him and looked sternly at the conniving fox walking next her.

"No. Nicholas Wilde, as your superior officer I cannot allow it."

"Yes sir Officer Toot-toot." Nick gave the worst salute Judy had ever seen.

"I have no idea why she would ever dislike you."

"Sarcasm really isn't your strong suit."

The two of them exited the bustling station, emerging into the calm nighttime air. The area around the building had cleared up since earlier. Only a few cars remained parked along the street, they probably belonged to the many Interpol agents still inside. Other than that, the city itself seemed quieter than normal, it was strange. The night was peaceful, but an uneasy tension loomed in the air. Neither of them could quite shake that feeling.

"Any plans tonight carrots?"

"I plan on going home, before this day gets any crazier."

"What? I thought you were having fun."

Just then, the headlights of a white limousine parked up the road flipped on. It speed down the road and stopped right next to Nick and Judy. Two polar bears emerged from the back and approached the wary officers.

"Mr. Big requests an audience."

"Ah come on!"

* * *

There we have it, Chapter 2 done. I know, still no Sly, but hey you got to see Carmelita in this one. 'But when will Nick and Judy meet Sly?' I hear you all ask, wondering when the reason you are reading this crossover is going to show up. To that I say be patient. Sly is a thief, and as such he tends to stay far away from the law. But fear not, he'll be making an appearance soon enough...or maybe he already has ;)


	4. Chapter 3: Big Trouble

"Does he really need to see us right now?" Judy asked in a desperate attempt to get out of the inevitable as the two officers were placed in the back of the limo.

Nick's stifled laugher was the only response.

"Will you quit it!?"

"I have to say carrots, there really is never a dull moment with you."

Judy rolled her eyes, there was nothing they could do now except wait out the long trip to Mr. Big's estate in Tundra Town. The two of them hadn't seen the shrew for a couple of months, after all cops visiting a known crime boss tended to be frowned upon. In fact, the last time they spoke with him was right after Nick's graduation. Mr. Big was surprisingly supportive of Nick's choice to become a police officer. Maybe he just wanted some friends on the force. No matter the case, whatever was going on had to be important, it was risky planting the pick up right outside the police station.

"What do you think he wants?" Judy asked her partner, breaking the silence that had gripped the limo for the first few minutes of the ride.

"Well, Interpol is here in force, and we know about his operation. So I think it's safe to safe he's going to kill us."

Judy looked petrified for a moment, until Nick chuckled, and she punched him in the arm as a grin slowly showed itself on her face.

"Nah, he's only going to kill you, after all I never sold him that rug."

"Oooh but we're in this together fluff, don't think I can't drag you down with me."

"I'd like to see you try."

The polar bear sitting opposite them cleared his throat, signaling the duo to shut up. The rest of the trip was mostly quiet, the two cops may have been friends with Mr. Big, but he was strict on his rules. The question remained, what did the crime boss want with them? Judy couldn't help but wonder. Her best guess was Interpol's presence spooked him and he wanted the two of them to keep the other cops off his tail. Nick on the other hand didn't want to think about it. Mr. Big would never go this far out of the way just for insurance, it had to be something far worse.

They wouldn't have to wait long for their answer, the limo came to a stop and the door was opened for them. Outside, the estate had security everywhere, way more than the usual guard or two. Whatever was going on it was big. Nick and Judy were shown inside, where the place crawled with activity. All kinds of animals were moving about, security systems were being inspected on the walls and cameras meticulously photographed various parts of the building. They were quickly brought to an otherwise empty room containing only a desk at one end, the door was shut and locked behind them. A large polar bear brought in Mr. Big through a side door and placed him on the desk.

"Leave us." He motioned for his bodyguards to exit the room. One of them placed an envelope down on the desk as he left. Once they were alone he began.

"Judy, Nick, I apologize for bringing you here on such short notice."

Nick moved to kiss his ring, but Mr. Big waved him off.

"Unfortunately we do not have time for formalities right now."

"What's going on?" Judy asked concerned.

"It is a sad day when the only ones I can trust are two cops." He shook his head as he spoke. "I wouldn't have brought you into this otherwise, but I require your assistance."

"Mr. Big? What happened?" Nick questioned the shrew.

He let out a sigh, as though he was going to admit something he didn't want to.

"Something very important was taken from me."

"OH NO, Fru Fru!" Judy exclaimed as both Nick and Mr. Big snapped their attention to the bunny.

"Fear not child," He spoke calmly, but with a clearly urgent undertone, "my darling girl is just fine. They stole only material possessions."

"Sorry sir, but don't you have your own people for this stuff?"

"That is the problem Nicholas, this was a professional job, the best I have ever seen. I am under the assumption whoever orchestrated the heist had help from the inside. I believe one of my own is a rat."

"What exactly did they steal?" Judy asked, already working the case.

"I have a passion for fine art, over the years I have amassed a collection of great classical works. Last night, every piece I owned was stolen. They broke into my vault, which had the best security money can buy, and took the whole collection."

Mr. Big read Judy's face before she had a chance to express her concern.

"Do not worry my dear, it is true the funds may come through questionable means, but I assure you I purchased all of those pieces legally."

"Wait a minute, hey carrots, didn't someone just donate a ton of art to the museum?"

"Yeah, wasn't it something like thirty pieces, worth millions."

"Good observation, the donation to the museum came from my collection, however I am not concerned with those pieces." Mr. Big informed the two of them.

"But didn't you just-" Judy stopped herself as Nick signaled her to let the shrew explain.

"My entire collection was stolen and given to the museum. All except for one piece, a page from an ancient manuscript. It was a beautiful document portraying early criminal techniques, a priceless one of a kind artifact. I received it in a trade some time ago from an associate of mine over in Mesa City. It has been quite useful in my line of work."

"So what happened to it?" Judy inquired.

"That I do not know. It is my hope that the two of you will be able to track down those responsible and return the piece to me."

"We can definitely give it a shot!" Judy said, excited to head up another case after losing the previous one to Interpol and Inspector Fox.

"Mind if we take look at the crime scene?" Nick asked.

"I'm sorry but I cannot allow you to conduct an investigation here, we can't afford to tip off those involved. Just bringing you here was dangerous enough. I had a thorough analysis of the vault done by my team, I hope I can trust their results. The findings are all right here." He motioned to the envelope resting beside him on the desk. Nick grabbed the file and started going through the contents. There wasn't too much inside, a brief report that was uncertain at best, some decent photos of the vault, and a small folded card. Nick passed the file off to Judy who started studying the material immediately.

"It's not a lot to go on, but whoever did this was good. No alarms tripped, no guards alerted, almost no evidence. The cameras were wiped clean and nothing else was disturbed, they cracked open the vault and made off with my collection. All that was recovered from inside was that card." Mr. Big pointed to the small blue card Judy had pulled out of the envelope. It looked like a piece of paper bent in half to stand upright. On one side was a strange blue symbol reminiscent of a mask.

"It was left at the exact spot where the page was being kept."

"Hang on, I know that symbol!" Nick said as he snatched the card out of Judy's hand with a grin. "I'd remember this beauty anywhere."

Judy looked at him like he was crazy.

"Remember the van from this morning?" He began to explain.

"The one we impounded?"

"That's the one."

"What about it?"

Nick pulled out his phone and opened up a picture to show Judy.

"Don't tell me you took a picture of that thing?"

"You really have no appreciation for vehicular based displays of art."

Nick held the phone and the card side by side. Just as he remembered, the exact same symbol was painted on a much larger scale across the side of the van.

"See?" He showed the two to Judy who was skeptical at best.

"Okay, maybe it's just a popular thing." She replied, questioning the importance of the connection, and Nick's sanity.

He pushed the phone and card closer to the clearly unamused rabbit, imploring her to find some significance.

"Okay fine, we'll check it out."

Nick's grin intensified as he convinced his partner, turning to give Mr. Big the news.

"It looks like I found a lead" He said much to Judy's disdain.

"Very good, I will keep you informed of any changes here. Be careful you two." The shrew said respectfully.

Nick and Judy nodded in acknowledgement as they turned to leave the room. Mr. Big knocked twice on the desk and the door was opened for them. The two cops were shown out of the building, still full of commotion as the search continued. The same limo that brought them to the estate was waiting outside, ready to return them to where they belong. The ride back to downtown felt much shorter than the stressful one earlier. Judy looked over the file Mr. Big had given them, there wasn't too much useful information in it. Some pictures of the scene, the card left behind, and a poorly written report documenting what was taken and how it was thought the thieves broke in. From what she could make out it looked like they managed to sneak onto the property, disconnect all of the alarms, somehow shut down the camera system, get into the basement, crack the vault, and then somehow remove over thirty pieces. All without alerting a single guard.

While Judy ran the whole case, Nick's only concern was one detail, the connection between the card and the van. Whatever the symbol was he hadn't seen it anywhere before, yet it felt so familiar. The most logical relation was that the van was owned by whoever left the card, but that couldn't be. Why would they have such a recognizable icon on a van? Unless they wanted to be found. None of it made any sense. Whatever was going on was not good, and who knew what could happen when they eventually checked out that van. Nick decided to voice his concern as the lights of the city slowly engulfed the limo.

"You know it might be a trap." Nick's ever teasing tone hid the seriousness of the remark.

Judy put the papers away in the envelope and looked over at him.

"I know, but that's what I have you for."

"Now what's that supposed to mean?"

This time it was Nick who couldn't tell if his partner's tone was serious or just joking. His wonder would remain as the limo stopped a few blocks from the station. The driver slid open the window to the back.

"Here's your stop." He said casually.

The two passengers looked up to see a smiling black jaguar glancing back at them.

"Mr. Manchas!" Judy explained as she jumped forward to greet him.

"Nice to see you too Judy," He laughed as the excited bunny attempted to hug him through the tiny opening. "and I suppose it's Officer Wilde now?"

"Hey Renato." A slight smile gripped Nick's face as he too acknowledged their driver.

"I haven't seen you since you got released from the hospital." Judy was thrilled to see the jaguar yet again. After the incident with the night howlers, all the naturalized mammals were held and treated for several weeks. Mr. Manchas was among the first to be considered cured. During his recovery period Judy and Nick visited often, they had become good friends. He was cleared for release right as Nick went off to the academy for training. After that the two hadn't heard from him in a while, they were worried Mr. Big didn't give him his old job back, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

"After I got out the big guy was happy to offer me my job again, plus a raise."

"Good for you." Nick was genuinely happy for him.

"Sadly, working for the shrew means I can't have too much contact with you guys. But I knew I'd find a way to say hello again."

All three of them sat there smiling, happy to reconnect after what felt like forever.

"Now you two should be going, we both have jobs to do."

"Yeah," Judy sighed, "please try to keep in touch, we should all go get dinner or something."

"I'll try Judes, but no promises."

"Hey Manchas," Nick said to the jaguar, "take care will ya."

"Don't worry about me," He said smiling "you're the one who needs it."

"Bye Renato!" - "See ya."

Nick and Judy said their farewells as they exited the limo, giving one more look to their not so old friend.

"Hey," he called to the two cops, "Be safe out there."

They both nodded, and with that the limo drove away, leaving the two back where they started. Nick and Judy just stood there for a minute, trying to take in everting that had happened over the last twenty four hours. It wasn't the day they thought it would be, beginning with a stakeout for one case and ending with a lead for a completely different one. The two cops looked at each other, weary expressions showing themselves as the joy of seeing Manchas faded away.

"So, what now?" Judy asked Nick, too tired to think of what to do next.

"Well seeing as the impound is closed until tomorrow, my vote is to get some sleep."

"I second that."

A moment passed as they awkwardly tried to figure out who would say goodbye first.

"So, uh, goodnight Nick."

"Yeah, night carrots."

Judy turned and began to walk home to her apartment. Nick hesitated for a second before heading out in the opposite direction. He only took a few steps before stopping in his tracks. The fox straightened up and spun around.

"Hold on there fluff," he called as he jogged back to the rabbit who was nearing the corner, "come on, I'll walk you home."

Judy perked up, trying to hide the smile on her face.

"Thanks"

"I mean how would I live with myself if some crazy fox attacked you in the middle of the night" Nick looked down at the rabbit who simply rolled her eyes at the remark. He leaned in closer to her, a wide grin on his face showing off his teeth "After all, I've got first dibs."

Judy punched the smug look off his face as Nick let out a pathetic 'ouch'.

"Dumb fox" she said, mimicking his grin

"Sly bunny"

* * *

And that's Chapter 3. Again I would like to thank all of you for reading, you're all awesome. Quick shout out to the guys over at ZNN, I'm glad you like the crossover.  
Now for some notes. Reviews! Please let me know what you think. What's good, not good, hows my writing, story, etc. This is the first story of this scale I have ever written so feedback is appreciated. Also I have now confirmed my upload schedule. I can get at least one chapter of 2000-2500 words each week. If I have more free time I might be able to sneak in a second one mid-week so keep your eyes open for a surprise chapter or two. Story wise, if you don't know who Sly is, the next few chapters are going to be quite fun. If you do know who Sly is, the next few chapters are going to be awesome. Thanks again everyone, chapter 4 up soon.


	5. Chapter 4: Change of Case

"You see Judy anywhere?" Nick asked the cheetah sitting at the front desk as he strolled in to the station the next morning. She usually waited for him right outside, ready to scold his tardiness. The demeaning remarks were noticeably missing from his entrance today, which was strangely disappointing.

"I thought she was with you," Clawhauser responded with a troubled look. "it's not like Judy to be late."

While Nick was concerned about his partner's whereabouts, something even more important ran through his mind. He was at the station before Judy, which meant lunch was on her today! As the celebration commenced, an out of breath rabbit burst through the front door.

"I'm here. I'm here. I'm here. I'm here." She wheezed, practically doubled over.

"Look who finally made it." He called smugly to Judy, who shot him the most adorable death stare ever.

"This is all your fault."

"How so?" Nick grinned at her knowingly.

No response.

"Anyway, lunch today, I was thinking- Oh hey chief," He noticed Bogo approaching the front desk as well, "what do you want for lunch today?"

"He got here before you?" Bogo inquired of the clearly unamused rabbit.

"Don't ask."

"Inspector Fox is looking for you two, her team is using the bullpen as a staging area for now." He got straight to business. Bogo had learned to stay out of whatever Judy and Nick were doing, the two of them had already taken several years off his life.

"Come on Nick, let's go." She sighed, heading towards the meeting. Nick followed behind, knowing she would lighten up in a few, as she always did.

The pair entered the room and were both taken aback by how much it had transformed. Most of the tables had been pushed to the walls, holding up charts and maps, the others sat in a row lining the center, acting as command stations for Carmelita and a few of the other Interpol officers. Files were spread across just about every square foot of open tabletop. At the front of the room, scrawled across the wall was a huge world map, with pins placed in key locations, presumably where events related to the case had occurred. Various mammals were moving about, bringing stacks of paperwork and evidence cases to and fro.

"Excuse me guys." the easily recognizable voice of Carmelita's partner called from behind the two who were currently blocking the doorway.

Nick and Judy stepped to the side to allow the weasel through. He quickly walked past them, holding a cup of coffee and some papers.

"Here you go Ms. Fox." He said kindly, placing the cup down in front of Carmelita, who was seated at the desk heading the row in the center of the room. She barely acknowledged her partner as he moved on to deliver one sheet of paper to everyone in the room. After making the rounds, he came back to the two ZPD officers still taking it all at the door.

"And these are for you," The ever cheery Winthrop stated as he passed the remaining two papers to Nick and Judy, "it's the latest briefing."

The two looked over the official Interpol document that had been handed to them. It was similar in format to the everyday briefings they received from Bogo each morning, but with a whole lot more words.

"Don't worry," The weasel said, seeing the mixture of concern and confusion present on their faces, "Carmelita will go over everything with you in a minute."

He motioned for them to follow him over to the Inspector's desk.

"Inspector Fox," This time she looked up as he addressed her, "Officers Hopps and Wilde are here. Would you care to update them on some of the recent developments?"

The busy fox sighed and put her paperwork aside, getting up and walking over the map at the front of the room.

"Okay so there were five missing mammals originally, right?" Carmelita's irritated tone was only amplified by her accent.

"And we found three of them to start with." She continued without waiting for a response. "Well we got one more last night, a rabbit, picked up at here." She pointed to a red pin on the map going through some place in southern Africa.

Judy was about to speak up when the question was answered for her.

"Dead, same as the others."

"Any more good news, sunshine?" Nick prodded the stern inspector.

"I had my team look into your Mr. Lambert." She proceeded, attempting to ignore him.

"And?" Judy asked, hopeful the lead had somehow payed off over night.

"And he is now missing mammal number six."

"Ha! I told you he was in this thing somehow." Nick said to unamused reactions all around.

Winthrop, who had been standing alongside Carmelita, grabbed Judy's paper, pointing out the box at the bottom of the page to the vixen.

"I know." She said rather harshly, pushing the paper away, which was then returned to the rabbit. "Along with the ram, two more were reported missing, bringing our total up to eight."

"Great." Judy sighed.

This was a lot of news to take in so early in the morning for the two ZPD officers, who stood there blankly, waiting for the inspector to finish.

"And we checked, none of them have any family recorded in your system. It's an interesting connection, I'll give you that." She reluctantly approved of Nick's discovery.

"So what now?" Judy asked Carmelita.

"Now, we are going to dig up some leads to get this investigation off the ground."

"Alright," Judy responded excitedly, "Nick and I can go take a look at the last know locations of some of the mammals, or visit their homes to search for clues, or talk to their-"

She stopped herself when the Inspector put a paw on the eager bunny's shoulder.

"Listen, I like your enthusiasm, it's what makes good cops into great cops, but this is an Interpol investigation."

Judy's heart sank as she knew exactly where this was going.

"My team is more than capable of handling the field work, I am keeping you two involved because I respect the fact that this was your case to start with." Inspector Fox looked from Judy to Nick, begrudgingly.

"If and when we need your help we will call you, but for now let us do the hard work."

Carmelita looked genuinely sympathetic towards the disappointed young rabbit. She gave her a pat on the shoulder as she walked back to her desk, leaving them yet again with her partner.

"Sorry guys," Winthrop said apologetically, "but she does make the rules around here."

He gently pushed the Interpol briefing up into Judy's view.

"I will make sure you two stay up to date, and I'm sure we'll find somewhere two of Zootopia's finest can help out."

"Thanks Oliver." Judy replied disappointedly.

"For now, you are welcome to look over all of our files and try to find some leads here." The weasel suggested optimistically.

"Maybe after the happy inspector over there leaves," Nick replied for his partner, "For now we have some other work to take care of."

Judy glanced over to him, confused for a moment before remembering their other case.

"Okay, well good luck you two, see you later." Winthrop said as they turned to leave.

"Later Oliver." Judy said as the two exited the room.

The pair headed down the hallway towards the garage. As soon as they were a good distance away from everyone else Judy spoke up, albeit quietly.

"Won't Bogo question why we are investigating some completely unrelated incident?"

"What, we are just two cops checking out a vehicle we impounded yesterday, nothing suspicious about that." Nick said confidently, "Besides, Bogo doesn't really care. He's got Interpol to deal with at the moment."

"I guess." Judy said waveringly.

"If you don't like it, then I'll drive." Nick teased.

"Nope, we're good, totally fine, nothing wrong with this." Judy responded instantly, she preferred to live.

The two hopped into a cruiser and headed out. The impound lot was only a few blocks away from the station, so they arrived in no time. It was a large, fenced in parking lot with a small building located at the corner. A series of gates separated the lot from the road, with a security station located along the only way in or out. The lot was mostly empty, only a few vehicles rested in the back corner. Most of the contents were obscured by the cars parked in the visitor lot, which was next to the main building, with the main gate leading off of it. They pulled into the visitor lot and got out to head into the building. Inside was a cramped waiting area and an office, divided by a counter topped with bulletproof glass.

"Al, how's it hanging big guy?" Nick greeted the officer sitting next to the front door.

"Morning Nick, morning Judy" The intimidating rhino welcomed the two in a friendly tone. He may appear mean and tough, but 'Big Al' was one of the nicest guys on the force.

"Is Kari in today?"

"Yup, she's in the office, go right on in." Al smiled as he got up and unlocked the reinforced door leading back to the impound office.

"Thank you my good sir." Nick commented as the two of them passed through the doorway, leaving the empty waiting room behind them.

The office itself was relatively small, there was the front desk where all the daily interactions took place and another desk for Kari behind that. A wall sat between the two stations to keep things private. Kari was the otter in charge of the impound. She kept track of all the inventory and records for each vehicle that arrived, as well as working with the other officers at the ZPD in reference to any relevant cases. Besides her and Al, the only other employee at the impound was Zed. The zebra only worked a couple days a week, moving cars around the lot and performing general maintenance. Nick and Judy walked back to find Kari behind her desk doing some work on her computer.

"Good morning Kari." Nick said in a suave tone, it was obvious he was using his hustling skills in an unsuccessful attempt to win over the otter.

"Nick, Judy, what brings you two here this morning?" Kari responded, slightly confused.

"Remember that van we brought in yesterday?"

"What about that ugly thing?"

"We are going to need the info on who owns it."

"Whatever you say." She responded, not wanting to question the fox's motives.

While she pulled up the info for the vehicle, Nick gave Judy a 'See, no problem' kind of look. She still wasn't convinced.

"Huh, that's odd." The two heard Kari comment from behind her monitor.

"What is it?" Judy asked.

"We don't seem to have a file on that van."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean there is nothing here." The otter spun the screen around to show them the empty database. "Our records show it was dropped off, but that's it."

Judy and Nick shared looks of both concern and curiosity as to what this meant for the van.

"I can run the plate through the system for you two if you give me the number. You did write down the number when you had it towed, right?"

"Please tell me you got the number Nick." Judy looked to her partner, she already knew the answer.

Kari sighed as Nick shrugged.

"It should still be out back, go get me the number." She told the two ZPD officers.

"We'll go take a look." Judy said, disappointed yet again in Nick's performance at simple tasks.

The two exited out the back door and stepped onto the lot. From there they could see all of the cars the impound had at the moment. Taking a quick walk around, they saw a few vans but none of them were the one they were after. Unable to spot the easily identifiable vehicle, Judy spoke up.

"Um Nick, I don't think it's here."

"Yeah, I don't see it either. You know what this means, don't you carrots?"

Judy looked over to her partner, unsure of what he was going to say.

"It means that I was right, and you should really listen to me more often." Nick's smugness was unsurpassed at that moment.

"Come on, lets tell Kari." Judy sighed, not wanting to admit Nick might actually be onto something.

The two reentered the office from the same door they left, finding Kari in the same spot behind her desk. She looked up, ready to give them the information they needed and get them out of there.

"Alright, what's the number?"

"Um, the van's not there." Judy informed the otter, who drew a concerned look at the remark.

"What are you talking about, it has to be there. No one picked it up yet."

"Look for yourself, it's not back there." Nick confirmed.

Kari got up and quickly followed them outside.

"See?" Nick motioned to the lot, and its lack of the blue van.

Without a word, Kari ran back to her desk and began digging through files. After a minute she had the security camera feed on her screen. Rewinding back to the moment the van arrived, she showed Nick and Judy.

"Let's see, here is when it came in." The otter began fast forwarding the video, the van was sitting in the same spot for a few hours. Everything looked normal until the feed suddenly went black.

"What happened?" Judy asked, wondering just what was going on.

"The cameras were acting up last night, I had Zed take a look at system before he left, they should go back up in a second." Sure enough, moving the video forward a few minutes restored the picture from the cameras. Only this time the van was nowhere to be found.

"No way."

"Let me get this straight," Nick drew both of their attention, "the cameras suddenly and inexplicably stop working for a few minutes, conveniently missing the exact moments when our mystery van disappears."

"That seems to be the case." Kari stated to the fox.

"Well thanks for the help, see ya later Kari." Nick said quickly, as he turned to leave.

"Hold on there Wilde," The otter replied sternly, "what's going on here?"

Nick froze, slowly turning around to face his accuser. Buying himself time to formulate a response.

"We're really not sure," Judy spoke, much to Nick's surprise, "but we don't have a lot of time right now"

"Whatever it is, good luck to the both of you." Judy's sincere answer was enough for Kari, who nodded to the two as they left the office.

"Bye Al!" – "Later big guy." They said, passing the rhino on their way out.

"Have a good one you two."

Nick and Judy left the impound building and got back into their cruiser. Nick was torn between the conceit of being right, and how impressed he was at Judy's answer to Kari. They sat in the cruiser for a moment before either one spoke up.

"I'll admit it," Judy acknowledged her partner, "you were right. That van has to be connected to the theft somehow."

"Thank you," Nick replied, "you're not doing too bad yourself."

"Come on, what do you want for lunch." Judy sighed as she started the cruiser and headed towards the center of downtown where they usually stopped for lunch.

"That's my carrots, I was thinking we could try that-" Nick was cut off by Judy who suddenly jerked the cruiser down a road in the opposite direction. "And you say I'm a bad driver."

"Hold on Nick, I got an idea."

"I don't care how good you think that smoothie place is, I get to pick today."

"What? No, you dumb fox, it's about the case."

The car whipped down the road taking a turn here and there as Judy excitedly drove. Of course she was only doing five over the speed limit.

"Can't it wait until after I get my free food?"

Judy ignored her partner's whining, focusing on her idea in hopes it would pay off.

"Can you at least tell me where we are going?" He asked after accepting his lunch would have to wait.

"I had an idea," Judy explained, "yesterday that van parked right in front of us. We were in an alley between apartment buildings, so what if that is where however owns it lives?"

"I guess it's worth a look."

He still wasn't happy, but his partner's logic was sound. It wasn't long before the cruiser pulled onto the road they had been at the previous day. Upon initial inspection, the area by the alley appeared to be lacking the van they were after.

"Alright it's not here, let's go, I'm starving." Nick was quick to judge.

"Hold on." Judy replied, wanting to get a better look before calling it.

The cruiser slowly advanced forward down the road, coming ever closer to the alley. The two watched in anticipation as the entirety of the alleyway and its contents crept into view.

"Ha, I knew it!"

Sitting right in the center of the alley was the blue van, in all its glory.

* * *

Done. Well it seems these chapters just keep getting longer and longer. Just an FYI for you all, I have finals coming up soon so I might not have chapter 5 up on schedule. If anything it will be a day or two late, but after that I should be able to start putting more time into this story, and just as it's getting to the good part too. If you absolutely can't wait to read more awesome stories then I would like to point you all towards a buddy of mine, u/7674917/derrandumbthrowaway He is the reason I started writing this story, he definitely deserves some more viewers and some quality reviews. Speaking of reviews, feel free to leave one on this chapter. I really appreciate when you take the time to write your thoughts on what I've written. As always, thanks for reading, chapter 5 will be up...soon-ish.


	6. Chapter 5: An Unexpected Encounter

"This doesn't make any sense." Nick said as the cruiser pulled to the side of the road only a few feet from the alley housing the van. Judy looked over at him, awaiting his elaboration. "Why steal an impounded vehicle just to leave it where it was towed to begin with?"

"No idea," Judy responded, "but here it is, let's not question the weird van's motives."

"Just go get the plate before you try to make another joke."

"If you say so, back in a sec!"

Judy got out of the cruiser and walked over to the van, carrot pen and notepad in hand. While she was getting the plate number, Nick tried to work out exactly what was going on. He had a few pieces of the puzzle, and they all seemed to fit together, but no big picture was formed. Either it was all one crazy coincidence, or someone was doing a very good job of covering their tracks. From the looks of things, they would have to be some very big tracks to cover. Nick was thrown from his thoughts by the sight of Judy returning to the car.

"Alright, you ready?" She said upon reentering.

"Yup, what's the number?" Nick asked, flipping on the computer located in the center console of the ZPD cruiser.

"C-O-O-P-1"

Nick typed as Judy dictated the plate number to him. After a second of processing the system returned the information it contained for that specific vehicle. He wasn't surprised by the two words displayed on the screen.

"This just keeps getting better." Nick commented as he spun the computer in his partner's direction.

"I really should have expected that." She said reading the simple response 'Invalid Number'.

Judy pushed the computer away and opened her door yet again.

"And where do you think you're going?" Nick questioned.

"I'm going to get some answers," She responded in a determined tone, "The van is right here, so we might as well investigate."

"Ugh, am I ever going to get my lunch?" Nick reluctantly got out of the cruiser to join his partner. It was obvious they weren't leaving any time soon so he might as well help.

"Don't blame me, checking on the van was your idea."

The two approached the blue van and began searching its exterior for anything useful. To Nick, it looked exactly the same as when they first encountered the vehicle. After a quick walk around, he stood back and let Judy continue the inspection. He excelled at the job of moral support. Judy went over every detail, from bumper to bumper. She took out the file Mr. Big had given them regarding the investigation and compared the card to the symbol painted on the side of the van. It was a perfect match, as Nick had previously noted.

"Why do you think it's here?" The fox wondered aloud.

Judy looked over at him, putting the card back into the file in the process. She was about to respond with the typical 'I don't know' when a thought occurred to her. Her excitement grew as it manifested itself in words.

"Wait, these are apartment buildings, so maybe whoever owns the van lives here!"

"Okay, which apartment?" Nick humored his partner, even if her theory was slightly flawed.

"Well, it's um…" Judy's excitement quickly faded as she realized they had no way to distinguish amongst the hundreds of rooms each building contained.

"Exactly. It's not a bad idea, I'll give you that, but there is no way to know."

"We could go door to door?" Judy looked around rapidly, calculating the how long it might take to search the closest structures.

"Oh sure. _Knock-Knock. Hey, any dangerous criminal gangs living here? No? Sorry to bother you._ Great idea there fluff." Nick's smug remark fell on deaf ears, Judy had noticed something on one of the buildings and wasn't paying attention.

"Hey Nick, look at that. Top floor, corner window." She pointed to a window on the sixth floor of the building lining the right side of the alley. Protruding from it was a small satellite dish, just barely visible from their position on the ground.

"Congratulations, you've discovered satellite TV."

Judy ignored her partner's comment, motioning towards the van where a similar dish rested on its roof, pointed in the same direction.

"And satellite radio?! Whatever will they think of next?" Nick disregarded the connection.

"That's the room we want." Judy said confidently.

"I fail to see how you came to such a conclusion."

"Just trust me on this one." She implored him to listen.

"Alright fine," Nick sighed, "let's go bother some old porcupine or something…On second thought, this may be your best idea yet carrots."

Judy rolled her eyes as the pair entered the building. Inside, they were greeted with a bland lobby. The walls were painted some odd shade of brown, the floor was light gray tile, spotted with black. The only thing that came close to a decoration was a presumably fake plant sitting next to the door. Besides that, a series of mailboxes were attached to the wall on the left along with a directory list. Straight ahead was a hallway with more broken lights than working ones, the stairwell, and the elevator. Nick walked over to the occupant list hanging on the wall, searching for who they may encounter upstairs. Most of the sixth floor names were either missing or completely illegible, the only ones he could make out read '607 – Haddock' and '620 – Marian'. While Nick was looking over the names, Judy walked up to the elevator and hit the button. A loud squeaking was heard accompanied by a deep rumble as it descended to the main floor. A feeble 'ding' marked the arrival of the elevator, but by that time the two were already halfway up the stairs. When they finally reached the top floor, Nick was practically out of breath.

"What's wrong?" Judy teased, "A little exercise never hurt anyone."

"That was enough exercise for an entire month." Nick quickly retorted.

"Come on, it should be the door at the end."

Judy and Nick walked down the hall and came to the last door on the right. Everything appeared normal, the door was bland with a simple '622' in gold numbers marked on the front. Judy raised her paw, this was the moment of truth, the two ZPD officers had to be prepared for whatever was behind that unassuming door.

'Knock-Knock-Knock'

No response.

'Knock-Knock-Knock'

"ZPD, open up." Judy called firmly.

At that some shuffling was heard from inside. The distinct sound of a deadbolt unlocking was followed by the turning of the handle. The door flung open to reveal a raccoon smiling back at them.

"You're early," He said in a charismatic tone, "We weren't expecting you for a couple hours."

Nick and Judy just stood there, speechless.

"Don't worry, Bentley will have those files ready in a few minutes, come on in." He continued, stepping sideways out of the doorway, allowing the two surprised officers to enter.

Hesitantly, they each took a step into the room. The apartment looked like a high tech command center. In the middle of the main room was a large table, holding two computers, a projector, and a vast array of devices the two had never seen before. Wires ran out from the computers to the satellite dish set up in the window, and to several points in the ceiling leading to who knows where. A projection screen was set up along one of the side walls near a doorway, the opposite wall had a multitude of maps pinned to it and even more gear and gadgets laying at its base. Through the open doorway next to the screen they could barely make out another table covered in what looked like books illuminated by a dim green glow. A glint of light from the corner nearest to the door caught Nick's eye. He turned to locate the source, finding it to be the golden tip of a strange cane leaning against the wall, with a small brown backpack sitting on the floor next to it.

"You guys aren't my normal runners."

The two partners were snapped out of their confused daze by the sound of the door closing behind them, followed by the raccoon's voice, who had just crossed in front of them. He was about Nick's height, in his late twenties or early thirties, and thin but fit in stature. His gray fur was covered by a long blue shirt with a gold collar. Around his waist rested a brown belt with a golden buckle whose shape was reminiscent of the symbol on the van. Matching blue and gold gloves covered his paws, and a blue peddler's hat completed the ensemble. A sly grin appeared to be permanently affixed to his face, like the characteristic black patch of fur that formed a mask around his brown eyes. The constant, flowing movement of his unusually fluffy gray and black stripped tail added to the raccoon's already mesmerizing demeanor.

"You are here for the files, right?"

After taking a second to process all of the puzzling information presented before her, Judy was finally able to form a somewhat intelligent responds to the question.

"Um, no- we are- I'm sorry, what in the world is going on here." She stuttered until the thought finally escaped her mouth.

"Didn't Carmelita send you?" He responded, slightly confused as well.

"No…" Judy paused, unsure if she should tell the stranger why they were there, "We were investigating that van outside…"

The raccoon's confusion quickly turned to realization as he let out a chuckle.

"You wouldn't happen to be the ones who had our van towed yesterday, were you?"

"Yes…that was us." Judy confirmed tentatively.

"I told Carmelita she should really let you guys know we're here." The raccoon said to himself.

At this, Judy turned to Nick in hopes he had any clue as to what was happening. His expression matched hers, telling the rabbit that he was just as lost.

"Yes, that's our van. No, it didn't magically disappear from the impound last night." Their host appeared to read Judy's mind, answering exactly what she was thinking.

"Allow me to explain." He motioned for them to walk over to the table in the center of the room.

"That's Murray." The raccoon pointed to a large pink hippo laying in the corner, coloring in a children's book. Judy didn't know what was stranger, the grown hippo coloring, or the fact that she hadn't noticed the large creature to begin with.

"Bentley is hiding back there on the computer." A figure was barely distinguishable behind the monitors on the table, but the sounds of keystrokes gave him away.

"And I'm Inspector McSweeney, but you guys can just call me Jim." He finished, maintaining a grin that rivaled even Nick's trademark smirk.

"You're with Interpol?" Judy asked, finding the situation growing continually stranger.

"Yes indeed, welcome to the Interpol Intelligence Division headquarters." Jim stated proudly, "We are the brains of Carmelita's operation here, well Bentley mostly, but still."

This unexpected information raised a multitude of questions in Judy's mind. Before she could pick which one to ask first, McSweeney addressed them again.

"Now, which two fine ZPD officers do I have the pleasure of speaking with today?"

"Oh, right," Judy said quickly, remembering her formalities, "I'm Officer Judy Hopps, and this is my partner, Officer-"

"Wilde," The fox finally spoke up, "Nick Wilde."

"Pleasure to meet you." Jim said, extending a paw to shake their hands. Both Judy and Nick followed suit.

"Why aren't you with everyone else at the station?" Nick asked after the greetings finished, skepticism clearly present in his tone.

"Because, Nick, we are working on the real case." McSweeney's grin grew brighter as he answered the question, knowing how confused the two must have been.

"Wait- What do you- Hold on-" Judy stumbled, unable to fit the pieces together in her head, "Fine, I give up, I officially have no clue what is going on."

"Alright, Carmelita's going to kill me, but you've found our secret hideout so I might as well tell you." Jim chuckled yet again, picking up a folder from the main table behind him.

"I'm assuming you were told Interpol was here to investigate some dead mammals, well that's just a front. The big guys needed a reason for us to be here and that case fit the bill. Carmelita's team is doing their job keeping everyone out of the loop, she is pretty good at dealing with nosy people if you haven't noticed." He opened the folder and pulled out some papers.

"This is our real target, Henry Longfellow," McSweeney showed them a picture of a large spotted giraffe in what looked like Sahara Square, "He has been linked to several past kidnappings all over the world and is suspected of multiple large scale robberies."

Judy and Nick listened intently, attempting to sort out all the new information.

"Interpol has been tracking this guy for years, we know his newest operation is based out of Zootopia so hopefully we can finally bring him down. But we can't afford to let our long necked friend know that we are on to him, hence all the secrecy. Which is also why the van out there 'disappeared' from your lot, seeing as technically my team isn't here, our stuff can never be in your system."

McSweeney began putting all the paperwork back in its case. The talk about the van reminded Judy of the symbol which led them to the encounter to begin with. She pulled the file Mr. Big gave to them out of her pocket and opened it up.

"Listen carrots, something seems off about all this." Nick whispered in his partner's ear while the raccoon was turned away, putting the envelope back on the table. She shrugged off his suspicious as paranoia, or perhaps even jealousy, seeing how McSweeney was beating him in the grin department.

"Hey Mc- sorry, Jim," The Inspector turned back around at Judy's call, "You wouldn't happen to know what this is, would you?"

She removed the card that was left in the shrew's vault from the envelope and showed it to the raccoon. He immediately snatched it from her, eyes wide as he examined the card.

"Where did you get this?" He looked up at Judy, his pleasant tone lessening slightly.

"We found it." Nick replied for his partner, he could tell instantly that the inspector knew what the symbol meant.

"Do you know what this is?" Jim looked concerned, shifting his attention between the two officers standing before him.

"We were hoping you knew, considering it's plastered on the side of your van." Nick said, curious as to why the card caused such a reaction.

"Okay first off putting it on the van wasn't my idea, secondly, this is my card." Jim pointed to a stack of perfect copies of the card sitting on the table before them. "This is the seal for my team, we use it for covert messages between Interpol units. Now I really need to know where you found it."

"At the scene of a robbery." Judy told the Inspector hoping to help him out, seeing as he has been much kinder than Carmelita.

"It's an active investigation so we can't tell you where unfortunately." Nick said, the return of his smugness covering his distrust. "An investigation we should really be getting back to."

"Are you kidding Nick, we just got here, and I think we might be able to help these guys." Judy contested her partner's behavior.

"No, no, I've kept you two long enough already, I wouldn't want to cause any trouble in your investigation." Jim apologized to the officers, "May I ask one favor before you head out though?"

"Sure, what do you need?" Judy cheerily offered her help.

"Can you deliver some files to Carmelita for me?"

"Absolutely."

"Awesome," The raccoon turned to address the figure still hidden behind the computer, "Hey Bentley, you got those files finished yet?"

"Uh, which ones are you talking about?" A nasally voice replied as the constant keystrokes ceased, casting the room into a stillness.

"The ones you were working on in the other room, you know, the ones you were supposed to have ready yesterday." Jim informed Bentley in a teasing tone.

"Ohhhhh those files, I'll get right on that."

The figure rolled out from behind the computer allowing Nick and Judy to finally get a good look at him. In a high tech wheelchair sat a strange green creature wearing a safari hat and glasses which obscured a good portion of his face. A shell rested against the back of the chair, while his short stubby legs danged over the edge.

"What is that?!" Judy instinctively stepped backwards as she attempted to determine exactly what was sitting before her.

"That would be Bentley, the turtle." Jim laughed as he informed the confused rabbit.

"But I thought turtles were- I've never seen- This is weird." Judy was not sure what to make of the turtle rolling by her into the other room.

"Ha, hey Murray," McSweeney called to the hippo who had been happily oblivious the whole time, "Looks like you're buying tonight."

Judy and Nick watched as the turtle disappeared through the doorway into the room adjacent to them, clearly uncomfortable from their staring.

"Oh man, that never gets old." The raccoon turned back to the two ZPD officers. "I'll tell ya, for such an advanced city, Zootopia sure is backwards when it comes to species."

"Oh, that reminds me!" McSweeney smiled and quickly stepped around to the backside of the table, "Can I see that card again?"

"Sure." Judy happily obliged as she removed the card from the envelope and took a step towards the Inspector. A loud thud caught her off guard, causing the rabbit to freeze where she stood. In her peripheral vision Judy could see the distinct red color of Nick's fur lying motionless on the ground next to her. Before she could turn to get a better look at her partner, a sharp pain ignited in the back of her left leg. Immediately she could feel her strength fading as the world began to spin around her. Judy looked down to see a small dart stuck through her fur as she too collapsed to the floor. The last thing she felt was her head making contact with the ground before everything went black.

* * *

Only a few days late, not too bad. Now I'm sure some of you know exactly what just happened in this chapter, and I'm hoping you are all quite pleased with it, as for everyone else...buckle up because this story is about to take it up a notch. A quick personal update for you: get ready, I'm finishing up my last finals this week so it is time to shift my writing into maximum overdrive. Before I leave you all again to write chapter 6 I must say as always, thank you. Seriously, so far this story has been one awesome experience, seeing your reviews, favorites, follows, etc, it puts a smile on my face knowing how many people really like what I'm doing. So again I say thanks, see you all next week.


	7. Chapter 6: A Dangerous Deal

"Ughhh" Judy groaned as she slowly woke up some time later.

She looked around to find herself sitting on the floor of a small, dull bathroom. To her left sat the bath tub and toilet, a dingy curtain hung from the silver bar spanning the top of the tub. On her right stood the door, the only thing separating the sore rabbit from her captors, it was closed and probably barred from the outside. The constant, metronomic drip of a leaking faucet only added to the room's discomforting atmosphere. Judy attempted to grab her head, which was throbbing with the worst headache she had felt since her time at the police academy. Her hand only moved a few inches however, before jolting to a stop. She could feel the distinct cold metal of ZPD handcuffs tugging against her wrist. Judy looked over to find her right arm cuffed to a pipe running out of the wall to the sink sitting next to her. She pulled at the restraint a few times while searching her practically empty duty belt for the key.

"Don't bother." Nick's voice called from the other side of the sink's counter, out of Judy's line of sight.

"Nick? What happened?" She was relieved to hear her partner was okay.

"Well, 'Inspector I-Told-You-So' knocked us out, borrowed all of our gear, and was kind enough give us the executive suite."

"How long was I out?"

"An hour maybe, I don't know what time it is."

"Great, so how do we get out of here?"

"That's on you carrots, seeing as my input is no good." Annoyance was clearly present in the fox's voice.

"Come on Nick, don't be like that." Judy replied, awaiting one of his smart remarks to lighten the mood. Silence was the only response. "Nick?" Again nothing. She understood he was upset, but this seemed a bit excessive. "Fine, you were right, I should've listened to you, I'm just a dumb bunny who should know better."

"That's more like it." Judy looked up to see her partner standing over her, smug grin and all.

"How did you..." She was happy to see he was free, angry at him for messing with her, and curious as to how he got out of the handcuffs all at the same time.

Nick raised a paw to reveal his sharpened claws, which he then used to pick open Judy's set of cuffs. "What kind of con man would I be if I couldn't pick a simple set of handcuffs?"

"Sly fox." Judy was impressed, although the ZPD cuffs were notoriously easy to pick.

As her restraints fell free, Judy heard muffled talking just outside the door to the bathroom. The two officers went quiet, trying to make out what the voices were saying. A deep, heavy tone was conversing with another figure, probably Jim. They could only make out one word here and there, but it sounded like the two were disagreeing over something. The voices stopped after a moment, Nick and Judy let out a silent sigh of relief. Before they could figure out an escape plan, however, the handle to the door turned.

"Listen guys, I'm really sorry about all this, but I brought you some lunch." McSweeney said as he opened the squeaky door, holding two bags of fast food. He was met by the sight of Nick awkwardly standing in front of him.

"Is that Bug-Burga?" Nick said in a nonchalant tone, "Because I love that place, but you might want to ask carrots what she thinks."

At that, Nick ducked out of the way as Judy leapt from behind him, delivering a kick directly to the raccoon's chest. The bags of food fell to the floor as he was knocked backwards out of the doorway.

"Sorry, looks like it's a no." The fox remarked as they made a break for the door.

The two pushed past their captor and into the area just outside the bathroom, they could see the exit of the apartment in the next room over. The escapees booked it in the direction of freedom. Nick only made it a few feet before a golden hook caught his foot, tripping him.

"Murray!" Jim called to the hippo walking past, carrying a large crate. Judy looked back to see her partner on the ground yet again, McSweeney holding him down with a cane. She faced forward to see the huge pink creature had dropped the box and was now towering above her, blocking the passage into the main room of the apartment. Judy dodged to the left, attempting to slip by him, but Murray easily stopped her, grabbing the squirming rabbit with only one hand.

"You know, I think I'll take that lunch now." Nick joked, surprisingly he wasn't the only who found it funny.

"Alright, get up." The raccoon said with a smirk as he removed his cane from the fox, who looked slightly confused. "Obviously locking you up wasn't the best idea, but we really didn't have too many options."

Nick got up slowly, running the situation through his head. The only way out was past the hippo, and he was still standing in the doorway holding Judy, who had stopped trying to wriggle free at this point. He decided his best bet was to talk his way out.

"How we doin' down there Bentley?" McSweeney said to the turtle, who the two officers assumed was in the other room.

A strange silence followed.

"Don't worry, I'll be out in a minute." Jim appeared to be having a conversation with a nonexistent Bentley. "Go ahead and take the rest down Murray, I've got these two."

"Uhh are you sure Sl- er Jim?" The hippo, who was actually present, spoke slowly in a deep if not confused tone.

"Don't worry big guy, they're not going anywhere."

"Okay." Murray released Judy, picked up the crate and headed out the door of the apartment. The second the hippo's hands let go, Judy had to decide if she was going to run or stay with her partner who was still within striking distance of the raccoon's cane. She opted for the latter.

As the door closed behind the exiting hippo, Jim walked up to Judy, gently moving her out of the doorway so he could get by into the main room. The two partners looked at each other, both shrugging, not knowing what to make of everything. After a moment, they slowly followed the raccoon's lead, coming back to the room they were knocked out in. The mess of gadgets and maps that greeted them the first time had disappeared, in fact the room was practically empty. The only thing remaining was the central table, completely stripped of computers and wires, all that rested on it was a single folder. Jim was seated on the side closest to the window where the satellite dish had been, two additional chairs were set up opposite to him for the still confused fox and rabbit. Judy looked cautiously between the table to the left and the door on her right.

"You can leave if you want." McSweeney said in his cool, confident tone. "But Mr. Big might not like it if you walked out on your only lead."

At this, all attention fell on the grinning raccoon.

"It's a very interesting file," He said, motioning to the folder lying on the table before them, "and I may be able to help you out with it."

Hesitantly, both Nick and Judy sat down at the table, unable to quell their interest in his statement. Nick dragged the folder over to him, slowly opening the case file that brought them to the encounter in the first place.

"What do you got?" Nick spoke, without looking up. He was checking his peripherals for any more surprises.

"I can give you the names of everyone involved, and the location of his missing artifact."

"Let me guess," The fox could tell exactly where this was going, "you want us to keep quiet in return."

"Bingo." Jim replied, maintaining his relaxed demeanor.

"And why should we trust you." Judy questioned the raccoon harshly. She knew a deal that seemed too good to be true often was just that. Besides, the two officers had no reason to believe anything he was saying, even though their freedom was right behind them the whole time.

"I don't expect you to trust a word I've said." He replied, getting up from his chair.

"Then what makes you think we'll accept the offer?"

"Curiosity." McSweeney smiled, turning around to face the open window behind him. He pulled out a long black mask and tied it around his head. "Come find me tomorrow and we'll talk."

"Where?" Judy called as he climbed out the sixth story opening.

The raccoon turned his head, simply offering a grin and a wink before leaping from the building. The two officers quickly got up and ran to the window. They looked outside but saw nothing, just like that, he was gone.

"I'm not sure what to make of that, but he might have been telling the truth." Nick broke the silence after the two had stepped away from the window.

"I don't know if it was all true, but he definitely got one thing right." Judy replied to her partner.

"Yeah? What's that?"

"I am curious."

"Great, so how are we going to find him tomorrow?"

"Woah, hold on, I said curious, not 'let's trust every word the strange raccoon said'. We should probably talk to Bogo about this one."

"Aren't you forgetting the whole look-the-other-way portion of this?" Like his partner, Nick had his doubts, but he had dealt with enough criminals and other delinquents to respect a deal. "Listen, we only have to leave it be for one day, if we meet him tomorrow and it's no good, Bogo will be the first to know."

"I guess." Judy still didn't like it.

After taking a moment to think everything over, Nick spoke up.

"There's something about that guy," he paused, trying to find the right words to express his thought, "I've never met anyone like him, and I've met a lot of people." The point wasn't directly relevant to the situation, but Judy understood exactly what he meant. The raccoon's actions didn't match the situation at all, none of it really made much sense. They both had more than a few questions, Judy voiced the biggest one.

"Where are we supposed to find him?"

"I have a feeling he will find us if we look hard enough." Nick grinned, it was clear they weren't the ones making the decisions.

"And how do we explain to Bogo that all of our gear mysteriously vanished."

"Excellent question carrots," Nick's responses didn't help the rabbit much, but then again she never expected them to, "and one that we can discuss over some nice free lunch."

Nick walked back towards the bathroom, picking up the two bags of food sitting on the floor.

"You are impossible." Judy rolled her eyes. "Come on, I'll go buy you some lunch. That stuff is probably poisoned anyway."

Nick put the bags back and proceeded to open the front door of the apartment. The two officers exited and Judy made a mental note to come back and take some reference photographs once she got her phone back. If she got her phone back. As they walked down the stairs, she quickly inventoried everything on her to see what else had gone missing. The list of what she had was far shorter than what was stolen. Almost everything was gone, her phone, wallet, carrot pen, the keys to cruiser, the cruiser itself was probably gone too for all she knew. Nick was a similar case, he was relieved however to find he still had his sunglasses, which he donned as the two walked out the front of the building.

"Whew, glad that's still here." Judy said, they were both relieved to find the ZPD cruiser still parked on the side of the road. Unsurprisingly, the van they were investigating was nowhere to be found. "I'll radio Clawhauser to send someone our way." She tried the door, hopeful that Ben wouldn't question their situation.

The door was unlocked and opened easily. "That also works." Judy didn't expect to find all of their gear sitting neatly inside the cruiser, topped off with a familiar blue card.

The two gathered their equipment and replaced all of it into their belts and pockets. Both their phones were dead, no surprise there. Same case for their radio batteries, which was unusual considering they would generally last all day. Their wallets had no money missing and all personal effects were intact, only adding to the odd nature of the encounter. Judy placed the new card in the shrew's case file along with the other one, they were identical.

Much to Nick's delight, the two stopped for lunch on the way back to the station. It wasn't anything fancy, but it's the thought that counts. The break for food gave them some time to think up an explanation for Bogo as to what they were doing that day. Judy didn't like lying to the chief, but she justified it as a special circumstance. Her partner called it stretching the truth, his plan was to say there were looking into one of Carmelita's leads. Odds were that Bogo wouldn't question it, if he decided to ask them at all, seeing how he was busy dealing with Interpol on top of his normal duties.

After a satisfying break, Nick and Judy returned to the ZPD station. They parked the cruiser in the garage and walked inside. The bustle of everyday operations greeted them in the main lobby, Interpol officers were still moving about everywhere but nothing seemed too out of the ordinary.

"Hey guys, how'd it go out there?" Clawhauser cheerily asked as they approached the front desk.

"Eh, same old same old." Nick replied.

"Is Inspector Fox still around?" Judy inquired of the cheetah.

"No, she took a squad out a little while ago."

"That explains why it's so quiet in here." Nick joked.

"Alright, well we've got some work to take care of, later Ben." Judy quickly walked away, heading for the meeting room. Nick shrugged, following the rabbit.

"What do you have in mind carrots?" He wondered as she hastily jumped on one of the computers in the back of the room.

"I want to know who this raccoon of ours is, I'm not walking into that meeting tomorrow completely blind."

"Why? I thought going into a situation with absolutely no information worked just great today."

She ignored her partner's remark, opening up the ZPD database. Navigating to the search box, Judy typed 'Jim McSweeney' and hit enter. The computer took a moment to process, looking through every record the ZPD had access to. Unsurprisingly, the computer denoted a total of zero results on the request. After a second of disappointment, the rabbit had an idea. She pulled up Interpol's information, seeing as the computers in the bullpen were now wired in to their network. Again she searched for 'Jim McSweeney'. This time the system actually spit out some data.

"According to this, McSweeney is a walrus currently serving a life sentence in Heathrow Prison." Judy read off the information displayed next to a picture of a large tattooed walrus who was missing half of his left tusk.

"So who's our mystery raccoon then?"

"I don't know," She said, scanning the page for any useful information, "Jim was a member of the original Cooper Gang," She continued reading aloud, "along with Dr. M and headed by one Conner Cooper, raccoon."

She navigated over to the page on Conner, thinking they had identified their suspect.

"Let's see, Conner, you are…deceased. Great."

The picture for Mr. Cooper did bear a striking resemblance to the raccoon they dealt with earlier, but it clearly wasn't him. Judy quickly looked over his information, hoping they were at least going in the right direction.

"Hold on." Nick grabbed the mouse from his partner, scrolling back up the page. "Right here, family, he has a son."

He went over to the file on Conner's child, displaying a huge amount of information. They took one look at the picture and knew without a doubt this was their guy. Judy printed the first page and closed out of the database. Nick walked over to the printer and collected their information. The two officers took another look at the newly identified raccoon. The photograph displayed the same smug character they had met, his eyes were surrounded by the mask he put on earlier, and he was wearing the same blue and gold outfit, even the smirk on his face matched perfectly. The name at the top of the file was one that Nick and Judy were sure they wouldn't easily forget, his name was Sly Cooper.

* * *

Says I have more free time, puts up chapter late. Sorry guys, this chapter fought me to the end. From various interruptions to a multitude of rewrites it just wasn't going smoothly. The transition is a little funky as I'm attempting to keep everyone in character but things should smooth out soon. Anyway, it might not be the best thing I've written but at least it's something. Let me know what you guys think of it, your reviews and feedback have been really helpful and I thank everyone who writes one. Next chapter will be done on time, I promise, and its going to be a good one. Thanks again for reading.


	8. Chapter 7: SNAFU

"You know Nick, it just hit me." Judy said aloud, looking out the cruiser's window, paying no attention to the fox sitting next to her. "What we are actually doing out here. On our own. The deepest into the canals I've ever been. With little to no actual information on the situation. All to meet some crazy raccoon who had us locked in a bathroom yesterday." The rabbit chuckled a bit at just how absurd in all sounded, but an undertone of genuine concern softly drifted off the words as they left her mouth. The two ZPD officers were in way over their heads, not like that stopped them before though.

"I'd say we're in our element." Nick looked over to see the back of his partner's head, through the reflection in the window he could barely discern the outline of a smile on her face.

Judy kept her watch over the abandoned docks, she had plenty of time to think about the mess they were in while waiting for Mr. Cooper to arrive. 'Brenford Shipyards – 7:00 pm' This was the place. Last night the two partners were informed of the meeting in a rather disconcerting fashion. Nick was the first to find his card, he called Judy right away. That raccoon had somehow managed to slip a calling card into their pockets during their precious encounter without either of the two officers noticing. As her partner explained the discovery of a card labeled with the time in his back pocket, she slowly checked her own gear. Unsettling thoughts and paranoia flew through the rabbit's mind as she felt the imprint of the card press against her paw. That night she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. Now, sitting at the docks, the soft rain of the canals district rhythmically tapping on the roof of their cruiser, Judy felt a strange calmness. The knowledge that Nick was sitting only an arm's length away comforted her. It was 8:05, their host was late, but they both knew that Sly had to be testing them, waiting to make sure they were really alone, really dedicated to the deal.

The docks were usually bustling with activity, cargo being transported in and out, huge ships slowly moving into port, the constant flow of goods both large and small, all around them this was the case. The docks never really closed, there was always some work to be done. Even at night, the lights in the distance proved at least someone was out there, just doing their job. The Brenford Shipyards would have been no exception, ten years ago. Today they sit abandoned, an island of stillness amongst the busy docks. Most of the buildings had since been taken down, but a few of the larger ones remained. A warehouse stood proud at the far end of the compound, along the water remained three of the iconic cranes, like giant guardians towering over the remnants of what once was. Judy studied all of it from where they were parked, just inside the entrance gate, at the demolished foundation of the original office. Nick's view out the passenger window was far less impressive, a few old shipping containers and a dilapidated fence were the only items sitting against the emptiness of the docks' right side. He saw all he needed to within the first five seconds of their arrival.

"That's it." Judy quickly grabbed her gear and opened the cruiser door, "I'm sick of waiting, I'm going to look for him."

The door closed with a thud as the rain gently rolled off her fur. Judy took a few steps in front of their unmarked cruiser, the lone vehicle inside the compound. The headlights projected her shadow a hundred feet long on the pavement before disappearing into the gray dullness of the nighttime docks. She looked on for a moment before a second shadow crept up alongside her own.

"Not by yourself you're not." Nick came up next to his partner, both of them dripping from the constant precipitation. It was light, but the steady flow of rain worked quickly. "Come on."

Nick flipped on his flashlight and the two headed out. There wasn't a lot of ground to cover, considering most of it was empty, but the ominous warehouse challenged them as the two drew ever closer to its entrance. About halfway to the building, Judy's ear twitched as she heard a faint noise in the ruble behind her. She spun around swiftly, turning on her own flashlight at the same time. Nick instinctually jumped at his partner's sudden action, putting both of them even more on edge. The cruiser, lights still shinning off into the blackness, was the only thing visible.

"Beautiful weather we're having."

Nick and Judy turned around faster than ever before upon hearing the smooth voice directly behind them. Standing a few feet away, between them and the warehouse, was the smug raccoon. He had on the exact same outfit as before, this time with the additions of a brown backpack and small brown bag on his left thigh. The wooden handle of his cane stuck up from behind his back where it was currently stowed.

"Mr. Cooper." Judy stated after recovering from the mini heart attack she just had.

"Done your homework have you?" Sly said with a grin.

"Impressive file you have, wanted in five counties, over 61 counts of petty theft, and 12 separate occasions of grand larceny."

"Really? I thought it'd be more than that. And please, call me Sly."

"Look, you should consider yourself lucky, if Nick hadn't convinced me otherwise I would arrest you on the spot."

"Ah yes, the young Judy, ZPD's star and very first rabbit officer. I'm sure bringing me in would look great to the chief. Unfortunately, Nick here knows the meaning of a deal, being an ex-con artist and all." Nick was surprised at the remark, Sly seemed to respect the fact that he ran a hustle in the past.

"Great!" Nick addressed everyone present, before singling out Sly, "Now that we all know each other, it's time for you to hold up your end of that deal."

"Of course." Sly pulled two black blindfolds out of his bag. "I'll need you two to put these on."

"Woah woah woah, hold on." Judy took a step back, "Are you crazy? I am not going to put on a blindfold and just hand myself over to an international criminal!"

"Listen," Sly said apologetically, understanding the situation, "I'm not going to get into everything out here in the rain, but I can't let you know where our current hideout is, seeing how you compromised our last one." He paused for a second, "The place around the corner had the best pizza too…"

"You're welcome to have a seat in the cruiser." The rabbit suggested, pointing to the headlights behind them. Sly glanced past them briefly before letting out a sigh.

"I can give you the short version here, but if you want details you'll have to come with me."

Nick looked over to his partner proudly before looking back to the raccoon. The two awaited his explanation.

"I'm the one who robbed Mr. Big," he continued, trying to find a way to explain everything quickly, "but I only took back what was already mine."

"Go on." Nick said. This interested the two officers, they figured he was lying but the story sounded like it could be good.

"I'm a thief, thieving is kind of a Cooper tradition. For generations, my ancestors practiced the art of theft. Throughout most of recorded history every one of them would write down their techniques, stories, inventions, all of their thieving knowledge in one book, the Thievius Raccoonus. Now, Mr. Big managed to acquire a single page from that book through means of an equally long and complicated story. I simply got it back."

"That's all you took?" Judy questioned him as she felt herself start to shiver from standing out in the cold rain for so long.

"Okay, so I may have taken some art as well, but that's not important."

"You're telling me that you stole Mr. Big's entire collection of priceless art, by yourself." Nick was impressed, if it was true that is.

"Well me, Bentley, and Murray. We make a pretty good team."

"I don't know about you, but I've heard all I need to. I think we're done here." Judy pulled her carrot pen out of her pocket, removing a piece of tape from the record button. Sly's face momentarily flashed a look of worry before returning to his calm self.

"Now what, are you going to arrest me?" He said jokingly, even if the two officers recorded the conversation it didn't concern him much.

"No," Nick responded with a devilish grin, "but I can't say the same for them."

Right on queue a second pair of headlights entered the compound followed by a third. The two white sedans sped over to where the three were standing, screeching to a halt on either side of the meeting. Every door opened in unison as eight polar bears joined the confrontation. Sly, surprisingly, laughed at the sight.

"You sold me out, I expected better of you Nick."

"We're just giving Mr. Big what we promised." The fox responded smugly.

"Hey Murray," Sly said aloud, "I'll take that help now."

Almost instantly an engine could be heard roaring to life somewhere behind the warehouse. The sound of squealing tires was followed by a blinding light rounding the corner of the rundown building. The van drifted to a stop sideways, right behind Sly. Murray, jumped out of the driver's seat looking ready for war. The pink hippo's entrance caused a few of the polar bears to chuckle, seeing how the two were still greatly outnumbered.

"You ready big guy?" Sly said, maintaining his cool tone while drawing his cane.

"THE MURRAY IS ALWAYS READY!" He responded, sounding like he was about to take one of the bears and hurl them into the next district.

The squad of Mr. Big's enforcers slowly advanced on the two. The lead bear went straight for Sly, reaching out to grab him by the neck in an attempt to bring them in easy. In a flash of motion, Sly hooked his cane around the bear's arm and dashed to the right. The arm went straight to the ground as Sly whipped around his cane and kicked the bear in the back of the head. Just like that, the first polar bear was down and out.

The one that went for Murray had it far worse. The hippo delivered a sucker punch directly to his gut, grabbed him as he doubled over, lifted the bear clear over his head, and threw him directly into one of the bears behind him. At that, the remaining polar bears hesitated, before all moving in, determined to take the two down. Nick and Judy were impressed at how good of a fighter the relatively small raccoon was, however as he and Murray took out a fourth then a fifth one of Mr. Big's thugs they started to worry. The two had spoken to the shrew earlier that morning, promising him they had the right guy, and that they could bring him in with a little help. This wasn't a part of the plan, but it looked as though they had to get in there and help.

Sly's cane made contact with the side of polar bear number six's face as Judy quickly jumped into the mix, followed hesitantly by Nick. With a quick jab to the stomach and a whack on the back of the head, the raccoon brought the next bear in line down no problem. Judy went to work on Murray while Nick attempted to distract Sly, trying to buy his partner and the two still conscious bears time to take down the tank of a hippo. Nick wasn't much of a fighter, but he was quick on his feet, he could dodge almost anything. The fox and raccoon danced around each other for some time, while Sly gauged just what Nick's strategy was. In the meantime, Judy got some serious hits in on Murray. She jumped up, delivering a powerful kick to his side, which caused the towering creature to stumble, almost falling over. The two polar bears weren't faring quite as well, it wasn't long before the hippo recovered and was able to get a grip on both of their heads, slamming them into each other. The fighting froze as the final two bears collapsed to the ground.

Both sides looked at each other for a moment, wondering if they should continue, no one really wanted to fight.

"Not bad." Nick said casually to Sly, observing his efficiency in combat.

"Look, I'm willing to let this obvious and poorly planned betrayal go, if you two will do one thing for me." The raccoon said, straightening up and lowering his can to his side.

"Why would we do anything for you?" Judy snapped at him, clearly angry about not being able to bring him to Mr. Big.

"It's either that, or you can explain to Murray why the nice rabbit officer tried to kick him in the face." Sly motioned to the hippo standing in front of her, his stare bore deep into Judy's soul. "Such a shame, he was really starting to like you too."

"And what's stopping us from just telling the ZPD and Interpol you're here?" Nick addressed the flaw in the raccoon's plan.

While Sly debated with her partner, Judy noticed one of the polar bears behind Murray starting to stand up. He looked to her, getting a bearing on the situation, she motioned for him to get ready. The bear nodded, waiting for her signal to pounce. Judy indicated for him to take down Murray, as soon as the hippo fell she planned to move on Sly, who was focused on talking with Nick.

A nod of the rabbit's head was all it took. The polar bear went for Murray's feet, kicking them out from under him. The hippo fell flat on his back, crashing to the ground with a thud that could be heard for miles. The puddle he landed in turned into a tidal wave, splashing the already soaked polar bear with a surprising amount of force. Sly turned to see his friend on the ground, groaning in pain, he was about to leap for the bear when he caught a glimpse of Judy coming in from the side. By the time she realized he was ready for her, it was too late. Judy was already dropping into a slide, putting all her momentum into one powerful low kick, hoping to get underneath the reach of the raccoon's cane. At the last second Sly jumped, clearing the rabbit and landing softly behind her.

Judy planted her feet into the ground, popping herself out of the slide. She managed to not to fall over after coming to a stop, however she didn't get the chance to mount another attack. As soon as she was up, it felt as if everything went into slow motion for the poor rabbit. Judy felt a tough, metallic point press into her back momentarily before the pressure was relieved. Her belt abruptly jerked backwards, tugging tightly against her waist, pulling her center of gravity away from her feet. Judy braced herself for the inevitable fall, but instead of going down, she felt the sensation of lift. The sudden acceleration knocked the wind out of her, Judy gasped as her feet left the ground and everything returned to real time for her. In one fluid motion, right as the rabbit got up from her slide, Sly had caught the back of her duty belt with the hook on his cane and proceeded to swing her in an arc straight over his head. Judy was airborne for only a second before being abruptly reacquainted with the ground. She didn't remember the impact itself, she was already unconscious at that point, however Judy did remember hearing Nick's distraught voice calling to her as she was lifted off the ground.

"Judy!"

* * *

So this was an interesting one to write. I really put a lot of effort into this chapter, and I hope it shows in the final product. I know an action sequence might seem a little out of place here, but it surprisingly helped a lot to move the story to where I need it to be. We are really starting to get into the meat of it now. And now for the obligatory updates. To answer a question I've been getting, 'Where does this fall in the Sly storyline?' this is a kind of alternate to Sly 4, It'll be explained more later on, but think of a similar opening to Sly 4, but with a different story. Also, if any of you feel so inclined to discuss this story with myself or others, I can be found on reddit (both the Sly and Zootopia subs) as well as the forums under the same username. As always, I appreciate all of your reviews and any form of input you guys give to the story itself. I could not ask for a better audience, especially for my first ever story. Thank you.


	9. Chapter 8: Cat and Mouse

A bright flash pierced its way through Judy's tightly shut eyelids. The rabbit slowly came to, not knowing what to expect this time. She was greeted by only a deep blackness. Judy could feel her head moving as she attempted to lift it from where it lay, disorientation quickly took over and she placed it back down again. All of a sudden, a booming clap of thunder assaulted the rabbit's ears. All of her senses were gradually returning to the hurting bunny, one by one the world was making itself known again. The feeling of the rain came next. All at once she could feel it, the cold, wet sensation rapidly overloading her perception. It wasn't the gentle, soothing rain from earlier, but a full on downpour, unrelentingly pelting her fur. Every drop like a tiny bullet. The intense barrage against her senses caused Judy to violently regain consciousness. Her eyes opened once again and the world faded into view.

She wasn't tied up in a bathroom this time, or in a hospital bed, or back home with her partners in her own room, instead Judy was still laying on the cold hard pavement of the docks. Slowly, she propped herself up against a piece of concrete that once made up the sprawling shipping complex. Her strength not yet all there and her vision hazy, drifting in and out of reality. A fuzzy blur was darting around about 30 feet away from where she was. The blue tinge gave away the identity of the figure, it was Sly. Adrenaline ran through Judy's veins as she processed the sight. The raccoon was still there. The aching rabbit blinked, or at least that's what it felt like to her, it could have been minutes before she opened her eyes again. A flash of red was now moving around Sly. This one was instantly recognizable, Nick.

Judy watched in hazy spurts of awareness the two figures moving about.

The second Nick saw his partner lying motionless on the ground at Sly's hand, an unstoppable forced moved him. Without thinking he immediately lunged at the raccoon, his whole body connected, knocking an unsuspecting Sly sideways and throwing his golden cane out of his hands. The two made eye contact, Nick's initial rush rage quickly draining from his body, Sly's face showing a strange mixture of sadness and determination, their expressions were clearly distinct, yet oddly similar. They both looked to the cane sliding to a stop a few feet away. Nick knew he could not beat Sly hand to hand, the raccoon was simply too agile, but he was a cunning fox, and he quickly put together a plan.

As a bolt of lightning dazzled the sky, Sly dove for his cane, snatching it up without any resistance. He looked up to see the fox had disappeared. Next thing he knew the lights from the van shut off, casting most of the area into a thick darkness as the thunder cracked ominously.

Nick killed the lights, hoping to take advantage of his natural night vision. Even though raccoons could see in the dark as well, their range was limited, as long as he kept his distance before making a move he would be good. Nick was surprised, something he had learned from the academy was actually useful. He could see Sly, low to the ground, listening, slowly moving in the open. He moved in, carefully avoiding the polar bears littering the ground between him and his target. Nick crept up behind one of their vehicles and peeked over the top, Sly was nowhere to be found. It was now one big game of cat and mouse.

Nick was shaking as he darted between what little concealment there was in the immediate area of the shipyards. The now pouring rain was messing with his senses. A splash here, a drip there, everything was heightened to a level of insanity. Two minutes. It took Nick two minutes before he noticed Sly crawling underneath the van. Those two minutes were the most intense he had ever experienced.

Sly slowly rolled out from under the van. Reaching carefully through the window, he flicked on the lights. As the switch clicked into place, he quickly climbed to the van's roof. He stood just behind the rack of lights, such that even if Nick looked his way he would be invisible behind the blinding brightness. As expected, the fox was hiding, the game continued. Sly hopped down from the van, as he landed a punch came at him from the left. The surprise hit threw him off balance. Sly stepped backwards to keep himself upright, his foot landed in a puddle and he slipped, sending the raccoon to the ground.

Nick stood over his downed adversary, ready to hold him there as he reached for his cuffs. The fox froze however, much to Sly's confusion. His nose twitched as he identified the smell lurking in the air. It was the unmistakable scent of blood. The cuffs fell to the ground as Nick looked up to see Judy propped against a piece of concrete, a stream of red running off her with the rain. Sly was gone by the time he started running for his partner but it didn't matter. He came up to her side, looking over the wounded bunny.

"Judy!? Can you hear me carrots? Say something!"

"I think I missed." Judy laughed as she pushed herself into a sitting position. Nick was relieved to hear her speak but overly concerned about her physical state.

"You took a pretty good hit, you know that." He grabbed the flashlight sitting next to the bleeding rabbit. "Hey, look at me." He quickly checked her for a concussion while putting some pressure on where it looked like she was bleeding from.

"Don't worry, I'm good." She replied, starting to stand up. Judy felt a strange numbness as she shifted her weight, before immediately falling back to the ground.

If it weren't for the rain, a silence would have taken over as Judy noticed the piece of rebar jutting from the ground a few feet away, completely covered in a layer of her blood. It was that moment the rabbit realized just how seriously injured she was.

"You still with me Murray?" Sly bent down next to the hippo on the other side of the previous chaos, who was audibly snoring.

"Huh? Wha? Oh yeah, I'm okay Sly." He responded as he woke up.

"Good, we gotta get out of here."

"What happened?"

Sly looked over, he could barely make out Nick crouched next to Judy, who was still on the ground.

"I did something stupid." Guilt took over the raccoon's face, followed by determination, "Go start the van big guy, I'll be right there."

"Just keep the pressure on here, I'll grab the first aid kit in the car." Nick looked his partner in the eye as he replaced his own bloodied paw with hers.

"She's going to need more than just a band aid." Sly said as he took a knee on the other side of Judy. His iconic smug grin was gone, replaced by an expression of pure concern. Nick noticed it instantly, he could hear the sincerity in his voice, it was the only thing that prevented him from flat out murdering the raccoon on the spot. "This is my fault. Please, let me help you."

"I- You- Of course this is your fault!" The fox stuttered, emotions running high, "Hey, keep talking to me fluff, I want to hear that annoying voice of yours, okay." Nick could see the damage done, and was doing his best to treat it in the field. He looked Sly dead in the eye, "Laceration on the left thigh, possible concussion, no signs of shock yet, but we need to stop that bleeding." If he was really there to help he'd better get to it.

"I know Bentley-" Sly said aloud, looking up, "I can't just leave her here- No- Don't worry-"

"Listen," He addressed Nick directly, getting his attention with a paw on the shoulder, "we aren't going to do any good out here, the cut's too deep. She needs to get to a hospital."

"I know that!" Nick snapped, before getting back to tending Judy's wounds, "I just need to get her patched up and then I can take her."

"And what? Have her bleed out in the back seat of the cruiser? You can't help her and drive at the same time. And she's going to need your help all the way there."

"WELL WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?" The fox replied, starting to break, "Either call an ambulance or get out of here. You've done enough already."

"I'm trying to help!" Sly snapped back before calming himself, "There's no way an ambulance would get here fast enough, I can take you to a hospital in the van, we can keep her stable in the back."

Nick looked between Sly and Judy, the raccoon responsible and the rabbit who was finally feeling the pain of the gash in her side. Barely managing to maintain his composure, he nodded.

"I'm going to make things right, I promise." Sly said quickly as ran over and opened the back doors to the blue van. He and Nick then carefully picked up the injured bunny, and carried her over.

Murray helped ease her onto what little cushioning was available in the empty cargo van before jumping into the driver's seat. A few jackets were the best they could do, but it was better than nothing. Sly grabbed a small first aid kit as the hippo gunned it.

"The canals has a clinic on Penema Ave." Nick called up to Murray, feeding him directions to the closest help, "Hang a right at the next light."

"Keep going straight Murray," Sly interrupted, before directing his attention to the fox who was working on cleaning out Judy's wound, "That little place won't be any help, she needs an actual ER."

"Okay, then our best bet is Creedence Medical, in downtown."

"You get that?" The raccoon raised his voice to ensure their driver knew where to go.

"Sure thing!" Murray commented back. He continued, putting a finger to his ear, "Bentley buddy, take us home!"

Nick and Sly got to work cleaning and dressing Judy's wound as the van sped down the road, ignoring all traffic laws. The one roll of gauze present in the kit had to go a long way, luckily it covered the majority of Judy's injuries, the visible ones anyway. They couldn't completely stop the bleeding, but four blood soaked paws resulted from the constant pressure being held on the rabbit's gash.

Unexpectedly, Judy remained quiet during the extended van ride tot he hospital. She understood the situation, and although the pain intensified with every passing moment she knew the best thing she could do was remain clam. The last thing Nick needed was a hysterical bunny flailing about for the remainder of the trip. Besides, Judy had dealt with worse injuries before, her family farm wasn't exactly the safest place after all. Be it a rouge tractor or a 126 rabbit game of tackle football gone wrong, the Hopps family was at the Burrows' clinic almost monthly. Her dad often joked with the doctors to keep his tab open.

Judy recalled the time she broke her left arm. She was only six years old, or maybe she was five, her mom knew all the details. It's one of those stories her parents would tell to anyone, much to her embarrassment at how stupid it was. The young rabbit was over her friend Andy's house for a birthday party. His parents had set up a little kiddie pool in the backyard for everyone to play in. The thing couldn't have been more than a few inches high. She was playing in it when the cake was brought out. As expected, everyone sprinted out to dry off. In her excitement, Judy managed to trip on the lip of the plastic pool, landing hard on a rock. It hurt, but she was tough, simply walking it off. After the cake, her arm still hurt, she told her parents and they put some ice on it, letting her go back and play only a few minutes later. It wasn't until the next day that anyone realized it was broken. The look on her mom's face when she saw Judy's arm all swollen up that morning, just thinking about it made her laugh. It was quite possibly the lamest way to break a bone, but the memory is one Judy will never forget.

"You're not going all looney on me now are you?" Nick tried to lighten the mood as he heard his partner chuckle.

"No no, I was just- OW" Judy replied, coming back to reality before Sly threw another large bandage from the first aid kit on her thigh.

"Sorry, don't worry, we're almost there." The raccoon addressed her directly for the first time since he inflicted the damage.

Judy looked at him, knowing it best not to question the situation right now. Instead she focused on dealing with the ever present pain.

The van's sudden stop caught Nick off guard, he realized he had no clue if they had arrived or not considering the lack of windows and how much attention he was paying to his partner. Murray opening his door was Sly's que to throw open the back doors as well, they were here. A bright light flooded the interior of the van from the heavily illuminated emergency room entrance at the hospital.

"Stay here." The raccoon said as he jumped out the back, running towards the large automatic doors only a few feet away. Seconds later he remerged with several EMT's and a gurney.

Three wolves and a gazelle, all wearing matching white uniforms, quickly took over the scene. They carefully pulled Judy onto the stretcher and wheeled her inside, wasting no time at all. Nick followed behind, stopping inches from the door when realized he was alone.

"You're not going to stay?" He turned to face Sly, who was halfway back into the van.

"I've done all I can for now." He replied, his tone a mixture of honesty and scheming, "But we will meet again, Officer Wilde…soon."

Nick ran inside as the van pulled away, the doctors were already working on Judy. One of the wolves that brought her in was waiting in the hallway.

"Excuse me officer." he approached Nick, using a calming tone which had no doubt comforted dozens of families as their loved ones sat in the same room Judy was in right now. "You are here with Ms. Hopps, correct?"

"Yes, I'm her partner, Nick."

"Great, do you have a last name Nick? Just for our records."

"Wilde."

"Thank you, if I can direct you to our waiting area, I can give you updates on Ms. Hopps there."

"No thanks," Nick replied much to the surprise of the wolf, "I'm good right here."

He opened his mouth in an attempt to remove the fox from the hallway. Nick motioned for him not to speak.

"If you can do me a favor, the two of us were on a very important assignment, so if you could just not contact the police station on this that'd be great. Thanks. Have a wonderful evening." He guided the wolf by the shoulders, encouraging him to keep going down the hall. The wolf had too much to deal with at the moment so, with a 'huff', he simply walked away. Leaving Nick alone, giving him plenty of time to think over the situation while the minutes slowly ticked past.

"Mr. Wilde," The same wolf came up to Nick about an hour later. "I have to say, your partner is one lucky bunny."

"How is she?" he replied, hesitant to smile at the supposed good news. 'Lucky' could mean anything in a hospital.

"Well, that gash is the only wound we could find, no internal damage, the cut itself only slightly damaged some muscle tissue, it didn't do any serious harm. Honestly it was one of the cleanest procedures I have ever seen. As for a concussion, it's still early to call it but the signs have diminished greatly, it's likely she was only shaken by the impact."

"How long until the doctors are finished with her?"

"Actually, she's being moved to a room right now, you are welcome to see her if you wish."

Nick wasted no time, walking right past the cheery wolf, who sighed.

"Room 2027," He said as the fox was already five steps past him, whispering to himself "A thank you would be nice…"

"Can we leave yet?" Judy said as Nick sat down at the foot of her hospital bed.

"Nope, doc says they want to hold you overnight." He teased her. Nick had caught up with the main doctor who worked on the rabbit just outside her room, speaking to him briefly and learning all the details of her condition.

"Well that's just wonderful. What are we going to tell Bogo?"

"Don't worry about him, he never expects us to show up at the station anyway."

"True, your slacking may actual prove useful for once."

"I should take offense to that, but seeing as you are broken and helpless, I'll give you a pass."

"Just you wait Wilde, as soon as I'm out of this bed I'm going to get you for that one." A devilish grin overtook Judy's face as the two partners got right back into their everyday banter. Nick stayed in the room all night, keeping an eye on the injured rabbit. She was going to be fine, be he cared for her, more than he showed. As dawn broke a dazzling sunshine burst through the window, a stark contrast to last night's bleak storm. Today was a new day. The two had some breakfast and Judy got ready for some final tests before the hospital officially released her. Just as she and Nick were planning their trip back and their inevitable talk with Bogo, there was a knock on the door. The morning nurse let herself in.

"Sorry to bother you Ms. Hopps," The slender female tiger said gently, "but these just arrived for you."

Both Nick and Judy gave the nurse inquisitive looks, as she walked over to a small side table and placed down a vase filled with brilliantly colored flowers.

"The doctor will be with you in about half an hour." She said, exiting the room just as quickly as she had entered.

The two looked at the beautiful display curiously, nobody knew Judy was in the hospital, so who sent them? Unless one of the staff tipped off the chief, or contacted Judy's parents. Though knowing either of them, they would have been there within minutes of getting the news. This had to be someone else…but who? Judy reached over, grabbing a small tag attached to the neck of the vase. She grinned as she read the inscription on the immediately recognizable card.

"I have to say Nick," She handed the card over to her partner, "he reminds me of you."

Nick wasn't sure if he should laugh or be angry as he read the card.

'Sorry I almost killed you – Sly'

* * *

Well, that's another chapter down. Whole lot going on in this one, hopefully you guys like it, I tried to incorporate some feedback I've been getting and see how it turned out. Anyway, the next chapter should get some more character development and plot related nonsense out of the way, and then the chapter after that will see an interesting turn of events. As always, if you have any thoughts on the story please leave a review, they are really helpful. Time for me to get started on the next chapter, thanks for reading everyone.


	10. Chapter 9: Mission Report

An uncomfortable silence filled the car during the ride back to the station. Nick and Judy exchanged looks every so often but for the most part the two simply lost themselves in thought. They knew what was to come once they reached their destination, only so much mental preparation could be done for the verbal beating they would endure from the chief. At least he didn't go off on them at the hospital.

Nick was still annoyed that the staff contacted the ZPD when updating Judy's condition in their system. Bogo practically teleported there once the news got to him. The relief on the buffalo's face when he saw Judy up and about was the most emotion either of the officers had ever seen on him. After checking to make sure her bandages were properly applied, Bogo launched into a series of questions regarding the circumstances of the rabbit's injury. Nick and Judy answered him vaguely, giving him the location and the fact that it was from a fall. Other than that the two withheld any information they could, knowing Bogo wouldn't make too big of a scene in the middle of a busy hospital. They didn't say anything about Sly just yet, they were going to work out what to do with him later.

As soon as the chief realized questioning the situation at that moment wasn't getting anywhere he went quiet. Only speaking when necessary during Judy's discharge process, both her and Nick knew he was not happy.

Every now and then during the unusually long trip back to the station, Bogo would clear his throat or grunt as if he was about to speak, but no words followed. At what should have been the halfway point of the ride Judy noticed a distinctive lack of radio chatter from the front of the chief's cruiser. He was always listening to the daily communications of his officers, so for the radio to be off was especially strange.

Several brutally quiet minutes later the three arrived at the station. Without a word, Bogo exited the cruiser and proceeded inside, Nick and Judy following close behind. Upon their entry, the entire station did a double take, all but the Interpol officers freezing in place for a moment before returning to their duties. Everyone must have known they were gone, but no one said anything about their return, not even Clawhauser. It was easy to see why though, Ben's face lit up when he noticed the two trailing the buffalo, once he saw the glare on Bogo's face though, his smile quickly faded away.

The three headed straight for the chief's office. Bogo held the door for Nick and Judy, allowing them to enter before looking at them for a second.

"Wait here." He muttered, closing the door and simply walking away.

A brief sigh of relief was let out by both as they were left alone for a moment. It was midday, but the chief's office felt like dusk. The blinds were drawn letting only a sliver of light pass, landing in a sharp line across the floor. A solitary lamp sat on his cluttered desk, emitting a faint glow which illuminated the piles of forms and files hastily stacked on one side. It was clear the dealings with Interpol were having a great impact on Bogo's day to day schedule.

"Think he's upset?" Judy remarked, looking to her partner who had the hint of a smirk on his face.

"Nope," Nick replied, "this is all a mind game. He's just trying to scare us into telling him what happened…and then he'll yell at us a bunch anyway."

"So what do we tell him?"

"Ya know carrots, I'm not really sure. See technically this is all your fault, so you get to handle the story." The fox poked at Judy's bandages, to which she winced before instinctively punching at him.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure this is your fault."

"How do you figure that?"

"Because everything's always your fault." Judy teased.

"Makes sense."

The door opened again and in walked Bogo, who slowly rounded his desk and sat down. The buffalo looked between Nick and Judy before placing a hoof to his head and taking a deep breath.

"I'm going to start with this." The chief announced in his gruff tone, "When I get a call that one of my officers is in the hospital, there are times it doesn't end with a meeting in my office. Every time I get that call there is a chance that it will end at a cemetery, with me giving a speech about how another good rabbit or fox gave everything in the line of duty. I always have that fear in the back of my mind, it never goes away, it's just a part of the job I have to live with. I want to make it perfectly clear that I am glad you two are okay. With that said, would either of you care to explain exactly what happened out there?"

Nick opened his mouth to answer, but Bogo interrupted him, "Before you say anything, I have Snarlof and Rhinowitz investigating the docks right now, so your stories better match."

That last quip was warranted, but Nick had no intentions to lie about this one. He would never let it show, but the fox empathized with Bogo, knowing exactly what he meant. His mother had given him a similar speech years ago, when one of his early hustles went bad. He came home with only had a few scrapes and bruises, but the pain he could see in her eyes was far worse. She didn't yell or get angry at him, all she could do was embrace her son and let the tears roll down her face.

"We were helping out a friend and things went bad." Nick spoke, Bogo looked from him to Judy for confirmation, and she nodded.

"Does this friend have a name?" The chief had a good idea who it was, but needed to be sure.

"It was Mr. Big, but we had a good reason-" Judy responded quickly but was cut off.

"I told you this would happen if you kept working with him!" Bogo huffed at the rabbit, admittedly the shrew had been a big help on more than one high profile case, but he never liked the arrangement.

"It was a legitimate deal," Nick defended his partner, "He was robbed and asked us to find who did it."

"Well then why wasn't this reported to me?"

"He didn't want a lot of attention brought to it. He thought it might be someone inside his operation and didn't want to tip them off. That, and I don't like paperwork."

"I've noticed that Wilde." Bogo commented as he took another deep breath to calm down, "So, if it was a simple investigation, what went bad?"

"We had the guy." Judy spoke up before Nick had a chance, "We ID'd the suspect and tracked him to the docks, but I was dumb and tried to bring him in myself. He resisted and dropped me on a piece of rebar. It didn't work out too well."

"Alright, give me names, assaulting an officer makes this priority one as of now. Whoever he is, I want him in custody yesterday!" The chief barked.

"Sorry, but we can't tell you." Nick said adamantly, Bogo slowly turned to face him, a curious expression on the buffalo's face.

"And why's that?"

"Because he's also the one that brought us to the hospital. It was an unfortunate turn of events that led to her injury, but he helped us, and I have to respect that."

The chief looked back at Judy with the same curious expression, not entirely believing anything the con of a fox said.

"I was in and out of consciousness the whole time, but from what I saw he potentially saved my life."

"If he put you in that situation to begin with, he can tell his side of the story to me directly."

A brief silence fell on Bogo's office as neither Judy nor Nick responded. Seeing how stubborn the two were on the subject, the chief had no choice but to accept their word, for now.

"Fine." The buffalo sighed, "You are two of my best officers, time and again you surprise me with what a little determination and quick thinking can accomplish. Now, one of you got hurt out there, and for you to protect the guy responsible…I have to take that into consideration. I expect a full report of the incident to be on my desk Monday. Either that, or the greatest excuse I've ever heard as to why this mystery mammal should walk free. That's 48 hours, you know the drill."

Nick and Judy looked to each other, a mixture of accomplishment and uncertainty plaguing both their grins. They bought themselves some time to figure out the situation, but not much. They had a lot of work ahead of them.

"Hopps, right now you need to get some rest, doctor's orders. And you," The chief looked to the smug fox in the other chair, "I just don't want to deal with you. Both of you go home, I have enough to deal with around here already, I want you both back in top shape for Monday."

The two got up and turned towards the office door, getting ready to leave.

"Judy," Bogo called before the rabbit made her exit, "For the record, if he really did help you, I'll do my best to make sure he's let off easy."

"It's not you I'm worried about." She replied before stepping out the door, leaving the chief alone in the dim grayness of his office.

Walking out into the lobby of the station, Nick and Judy exchanged looks, both thinking about the mess they had gotten themselves into. They were going to have to write up a report for Bogo, it was inevitable. Undoubtedly the news would then spread to Interpol and the hunt would be on to catch the Cooper. For now they could leave Sly's name out of it while searching for a way to convince the chief otherwise, but that still didn't buy them much time. Before they had a chance to discuss what the plan was, a flurry of commotion started up around them. Over at his desk, Clawhauser jumped between his computer, paperwork, and radios. Neither could make out what it was the cheetah was doing, but only seconds later a familiar accent boomed from the meeting room.

"Let's go Winthrop, we are leaving!" Carmelita came rushing out of the room followed by a swarm of Interpol agents. The vixen stopped in the middle of the lobby a few feet away from the two officers. She looked around quickly before muttering something to herself in Spanish.

"What's going on?" Judy wondered out loud, to no one in particular.

"Hopps!" The inspector noticed the rabbit standing there, directing attention to her and speaking quickly, "Have you seen Oliver?"

"No?" She responded blankly.

"Ugh, I knew he wouldn't be any help…You two, come with me."

"Actually I really need to go home and rest-"

"No time, I'll brief you in the car."

Without a choice, Nick and Judy were pulled into the group of agents running for the garage. Wolves, rhinos, elephants, every type of mammal they had to offer piled into different cars and sped off, sirens blaring. Carmelita led the two to her personal car, slapping a small light on the roof as they all got in. She floored it and quickly took lead of the pack.

"We got a hit on the case." She explained from the front seat before taking a sharp right turn, "I've had my people watching anyone that fit the pattern of the previous missing mammals. A pig we were tracking was just seen being shoved into a truck, we followed them back to some little shack."

The line of cars, tore through downtown, coming to the border of the Rainforest district. Sirens were cut as they turned onto a small backroad lining some old train tracks sitting right on the division. A horse was standing next to a stopped car at the corner. Carmelita brought the vehicle to a halt as she rolled down the window to speak with him.

"What do you have Damion?"

"They pulled into that warehouse down on the left. This road is a dead end, we've got them surrounded." The horse replied.

"Good work, swing around and check the next street over, I want to be sure."

The Inspector got serious, she waved for the rest of the cars to follow her. They lined up and headed down the road, sure enough a small building sat on the left with a box truck parked outside, its hazard lights flashing. Carmelita pulled up out front, the rest of the agents followed suit, forming a perimeter around the small warehouse.

Without a word, the vixen opened the door, stepped out of the car and drew her shock pistol, followed by the rest of her team. As the line of officers slowly advanced upon the building and truck, Nick and Judy got out of the car, staying a good distance behind the Inspector, neither of them were in any shape for this. Carmelita took two agents to check out the truck while the rest moved towards the warehouse. The box itself was padlocked shut, so they slowly moved to the cab. Both doors were wide open and the truck was vacant. The ZPD officers watched on as Ms. Fox and the other agents searched the interior. Meanwhile the main group breached the warehouse, reemerging about a minute later.

"Inspector!" A rhino called over from the main doorway, "The building's empty."

"What do you mean empty?!" Carmelita yelled back.

"There's nothing inside except some broken crates."

"Shhhhh!" The inspector hushed the scene, getting out of the truck cab and listening.

"What is it?" Judy whispered, taking a few steps closer.

Everyone listened, a stifled banging could be heard from inside the back of the truck.

"Go get some bolt cutters!" Carmelita directed a wolf standing next to her. Most of the Interpol agents gathered around the back of the truck, holding their weapons at the ready. The wolf grabbed a set of cutters from his car and ran to the truck.

"On my count." The Inspector readied him, "One. Two. Three. Go!"

The agent popped off the lock and threw open the latch for the door which shot upwards. Nick and Judy struggled to see over the crowd of agents as Carmelita rushed into the cargo space of the truck.

"Make room!" They heard the vixen call from inside, "Tusker, get me EMS."

Most of the crowd scrambled to clear the area and call for medical. The rest helped Carmelita lower a figure onto the ground. As the wall of mammals dispersed, Judy and Nick could clearly see the pig, bound with duct tape and a burlap sack over its head. The clearly struggling pig was desperately trying to say something, but the audibly muffled grunts signified she was gagged as well. Inspector Fox carefully removed the sack to reveal the most terrified expression Judy had ever seen. The pig was in tears and shaking violently, clearly fearing for her life. As Carmelita went to pull away the tape covering her mouth, Nick noticed the collar around the pig's neck.

"Wait!" He yelled, jumping forward to stop the vixen as the small light blinked on.

It was too late, the tape came off and the pig let out a pitiful whimper just before the collar beeped. There was nothing they could do, she was gone in an instant.

Carmelita's team was finishing up forensics when Constable Winthrop finally arrived some time later. The body had already been hauled away and everyone was starting to head out, the warehouse was returning to the quiet state it was found in. He walked over to where Nick and Judy were standing, taking in the scene as it wrapped up.

"Looks like I missed all the fun." He said in an out of place, upbeat tone.

"Yeah…fun." Judy quietly replied.

"Winthrop!" Carmelita called as she approached the group.

"Well," Nick looked to the weasel, "looks like the fun is about to begin for you."

"Nice of you to show up Oliver." The Inspector angrily greeted her partner.

"I know, I'm sorry. But as soon as I heard, I took some time to do a bit of research." The Constable replied.

"Anything good?"

"Seems as though this place was part of a restaurant supply chain."

"That explains the crates we found inside, they were full of cups and some old chairs."

"Yup, from what I gathered this location hasn't been used in a while, but the company is still in operation."

"I guess that's as close to a lead as we're going to get. Go ahead and finish up here, I have to take these two back to the station."

Without waiting for any kind of acknowledgment, Carmelita headed for her car, motioning for Nick and Judy to join her. The trio got in and started back towards the ZPD. As the dust settled on the event and everyone had a moment to think, the Inspector spoke up.

"I'm sorry…"

"It's okay, that stuff happens it's just a part of the job." Judy responded, trying to rationalize everything.

"No, not just that, I should've kept you two more involved in this case. I got word about your injury Hopps. If you two had been with my team that never would have happened."

"No no, that has nothing to do with you, don't worry."

"Listen Judy, I don't care if it has to do with me or not. But after you rest up this weekend, come Monday I'm going to get you properly involved with the investigation."

"Nick too?"

"Yes," Carmelita sighed, "Nick too."

The three arrived back at the station shortly after, they all exited the car and stood around for a moment, each with a little better understanding of the other. Inspector Fox was the first to step away, heading for the station entrance. A moment later, Nick and Judy began walking towards the road.

"Yet another fun filled day, wouldn't you say carrots?" Nick tried to lighten the mood a bit.

"Absolutely," Judy welcomed the idea of getting her mind off the previous events, "and it's barely even three!"

"You know what that means, don't you?"

"What?"

"It means I have the rest of the day to take a nap." Nick flashed a smirk as he started walking away.

"Nope, you're not getting off that easy, we have work to do Wilde." Judy grabbed the fox by his tie and began dragging him in the opposite direction, towards her apartment.

"Sure I'll help, thanks for asking so politely. You know you really are the prime example of respect and courtesy."

The hours passed quickly as the two officers worked out of the small apartment. Handling the situation with Cooper was taking its toll on the pair. Judy sat at her desk, meticulously writing out the report, having Nick dictate whatever parts she couldn't remember. The fox spent most of that afternoon laying in Judy's bed, trying to find a clever reason to let Sly off the hook. As the sun set, and the two exhausted partners' motivation wavered, their progress was minimal. Judy didn't want to write any details until they had a plan around the raccoon, but neither of them could find any reason Bogo would ever leave him be. Every shred of an idea they had would only have a tiny chance of working if they could talk to Cooper directly, and who knows where he ended up.

Nick fell asleep on Judy's bed while she was still working on the report. Eventually, she gave up, not on the report itself, but on the plan to keep Sly out of it. The raccoon seemed to be good at avoiding police, he'd been doing it for years so what difference did it make if they were after him now. Carmelita and the rest of Interpol were busy with the recent developments in their case so the news of Cooper might not even affect them. Plus Bogo did say he'd help as much as he could, so it wouldn't be that bad. With Nick snoring away in the background, Judy got as many details as she could written down on the report, citing exactly how the fateful meeting initially came about. Of course she helped Sly as much as she could, not mentioning his name in the report, instead only saying that he was a raccoon thief they tracked through some sources. Hopefully nobody would make the connection. Now all the paperwork was missing was the account of the rabbit's injury. Judy decided to leave that part for tomorrow, when they both could think straight again, it was time to call it a night.

The next morning, Judy woke up early to a sharp pain in her side from accidentally pressing on her bandages. Letting out a yawn, the rabbit looked over at the fox sprawled out in her bed, his tongue was hanging out and he looked like a mess. She shook her head with a grin before something on her desk caught Judy's eye. An easily recognizable blue card sat all alone in the center, right where the paperwork had been the night before.

* * *

Okay, so a lot happening in this one. Some story nonsense, some light action, some of me writing at 1 am trying to finish before a particularly busy weekend, it's all there. Like I said before, next chapter should get real interesting (you know what's coming, it's in the description of the story). As always, keep the feedback coming, it's been helping me write better and better every week. Thanks for reading, more good stuff coming next week.


	11. Chapter 10: The Underground

"As entertaining as it would be, murder isn't the solution fluff." Nick calmed his partner while teasing her at the same time.

Judy was in a state of disbelief at the sight of Sly's calling card replacing the stack of paperwork she had slaved over for hours the night before. Her complaints and muffled death threats aimed towards the raccoon had woken up Nick, who nearly fell out of the bed in a confused fit due to the commotion. This kind of behavior was unusual for Judy, but considering how late she stayed up writing the report, it made sense the exhausted rabbit would be a little cranky.

"I know," Judy replied, taking a breath and beginning to relax, "but he is really getting on my nerves."

"Well can you blame him?" Nick sat up from where he lay on Judy's bed, "He's an international criminal and we are a couple of cops trying to report him to an Interpol task force led by a potentially unstable vixen."

"It's not just the report. He broke in here while we were both asleep, it…it creeps me out a little."

A brief silence fell upon the small apartment as both occupants let that last thought linger. Neither wanted to say anything, but they each knew what the other was thinking. Sly's actions continued to complicate an already problematic case. He was unpredictable, almost irrational, and it was taking a toll on the two officers who were caught up in it all.

"I'll start rewriting the report." Judy sighed, turning away from the fox across from her, who looked to be deep in thought.

"Don't bother," Nick let out quietly, catching his partner's attention as he stood up with a yawn and a stretch, "I think it's time we had a chat with Mr. Cooper."

"Oh no, don't say it Nick. I know what you're thinking and this has never ended well."

A smirk slowly formed on his face while Judy hopelessly pleaded.

"C'mon carrots, I know a guy…technically a girl, but still."

"Ugh, do you have any idea how many near death experiences have begun with you saying 'I know a guy'?"

"Are they dangerous? Potentially. But I'm pretty sure you're always the one running directly into the danger shouting 'woot-woot!'."

"Yeah! There's no stopping the rabbit pain train!" The voice of Judy's neighbor cheered on through the wall of her tiny room.

"Shut up man! Let the cops solve their case!" Another voice followed, berating the first.

"Fine. Lead the way." Judy conceded, unable to deal with Nick and her neighbors at the same time, especially in the state she was in.

Holding his grin and sneaking in a wink, Nick adjusted his tie and stepped out the door. Judy quickly gathered her things and followed, all the while her neighbors argued on in the background. The two exited the building and came out onto the relatively quiet Sunday morning streets of Zootopia. Today was their day off, so the officers dressed in civilian clothing. Nick, with his 'meh' attitude towards fashion wore the same outfit he always did, Hawaiian shirt and tie combo with loose fitting pants. Judy, having no mental ability to care at the moment, payed as little attention to her clothing as he did, wearing a simple blue flannel over a gray t-shirt with jeans. They were quite the pair walking down the road, but there were stranger sights to behold in the craziness of the city.

"So, what eccentric personality are we visiting today?" Judy inquired as they lazily strolled through downtown, finally beginning to wake up as the sun pierced its way over the horizon.

"Honey's an old friend. She's one of those folks that's just always there for you." Nick replied.

"Old friend to you means literally anyone you've ever met."

"That's only somewhat true. No, Finnick and I used to run a hustle with her back when we were starting out. Now, I may know everyone around here, but Honey, she knows where they are."

"You're telling me some random friend of yours just so happens to know where a gang of international criminals are hiding."

"Maybe. See, she runs a con artist's paradise, it's a sort of hotel for those who want to lay low, keep away from the public eye for a while."

"Yet another place the ZPD should probably know about?"

"Yeah, there are a lot of those."

"I've noticed. You think they are staying at her place?"

"It's possible, but so many small time outlaws, hustlers, and other questionable figures come in and out of there daily that some kind of information about them has to have been passed around."

"Alright," Judy was slightly optimistic about this lead. Nick spoke of his friend honestly, no hint of deception or uncertainty in his voice this time around. "So where is this place?"

"Ah, that's the best part." The fox replied with a grin.

Judy pestered her partner for the location as the two continued on for a ways, getting just outside the main stretch of downtown. A multitude of apartments, shops, and restaurants lined the smaller side streets they traversed. She looked curiously at every one they passed once Nick slowed his pace a bit. Any one of those structures could be a simple façade, hiding dozens of mammals who might well be on Zootopia's most wanted list. As exciting as the prospect was, Judy knew the location would have to remain hidden. Nick trusted her, he was showing the rabbit this place because he knew she respected the unspoken 'code of the con' as he called it. She had caught on to these little rules by watching Nick deal with all the shady characters they encountered out on the beat. One of the most prevalent was the obvious 'you don't rat me out, I won't rat you out' the level of trust they all had in each other was incredible. Judy's reminiscing was halted when she noticed Nick come to stop in the middle of an empty street.

"We're here." He stated.

Compared to other parts of the city, the road they were on wasn't too bad. Most of the buildings seemed alright, not too much graffiti, only a few boarded up windows. The one they were standing directly out front of a moderately sized building housing a rundown convenience store on the lower level with four floors of rooms on top of that. The cracked sign hanging above the entrance was faded beyond recognition, at this point it was no more than a white and blue smudge against the bricks. Judy took a step towards the convincingly disguised entrance of the store.

"Where are you going?" Nick's voice stopped her. She turned around to see him walking in the opposite direction, crossing to the other side of the street. Judy quickly ran to catch up with him, looking confused as they reached the sidewalk.

"I thought it was… Where is it actually?"

"I told you, that's the best part." A smug grin presented itself on the fox as he approached an old subway entrance. The way down to the station was gated off, but a gentle tug slid the metal fencing open, granting access to the stairs. Judy stepped towards the now open stairwell, but Nick's arm stopped her as he looked the rabbit dead in the eye.

"Listen, down there, don't mention that we're cops, okay? It wouldn't end well."

Judy nodded, noting how much stress her partner put on the warning. Nick lowered his arm and proceeded downwards. Walking to the bottom, the two were greeted by an old, rusted out metal door. The fox pulled open the squeaky door, causing a small bell next to in to ring as they entered.

The initial room, where the ticket booth of the subway was, had been closed off. The dimly lit, musky, and damp area seemed to be the final deterrent for anyone who went exploring a bit too far. Nick stepped over to the ticket booth and knocked on the glass.

"Hey Honey, I'd like a room for two please." He called out in a friendlier version of his standard sly tone.

After a moment, some rustling was heard coming from the booth.

"Hang on," A raspy voice called back anxiously among the sounds of various items crashing to the floor. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

"Honey's not the most organized." Nick said to Judy as they waited.

"Alrighty! How long you need?" The same voice called back as a large honey badger came into view in the booth, wearing a solid green tank top and camouflage pants surrounded by a stuffed tool belt.

"Depends, what's the rate for a conniving fox?"

"Nick!" The badger lit up as she recognized him, "Wait right there!"

She bolted out of the booth and around through the same crashing noises as before. A second later she burst though the only other door in the room.

"Nick Wilde!" She exclaimed, running up and giving the fox a huge hug, nearly suffocating the poor creature. Judy let out a good laugh, seeing the face he made as a result of the embrace.

"Hi Honey." Nick replied with what little air his lungs cold squeeze out.

Honey released him after a moment, letting Nick regain his composure before losing it again as the badger gave him a powerful pat on the back.

"My goodness, I haven't seen you in-oh…gosh, it's gotta be a few years now… Well how ya doin' Tricky-Nicky?!"

"I've been good Hon, a lot has happened since those days, but the catching up will have to wait. Right now we need your help."

"I figured you were here for a reason" Honey let out a brief sigh then a laugh before noticing Judy standing a few feet away, still smirking from the scene that just played out before her. The badger looked sternly back at Nick. "What trouble have you gotten yourself into this time? Another mafia? Angry lemmings? Is it the cops again, 'cause you know I can deal with the fuzz."

"Funny story actually," Nick hesitated, chuckling awkwardly as he tried to find the right way to explain the situation to his friend, "you see, we were hoping you could help us find a particular group of out-of-towners."

"Ahhh, seeking instead of hiding eh? That's a new one for you. Alright c'mon inside, out here's no place to get talking."

Honey led the group to the door, throwing it open to reveal what once was a subway station, completely transformed into something incredible. Just as Nick said, a hidden paradise, a secret hotel living just under the streets of the city. The two story platform was scattered with lighting fixtures of all shapes and sizes, spreading a strange hue across the yellowed walls of the rotting subway. Graffiti covered the majority of exposed surface adding to the peculiar atmosphere of the sprawling station. A dozen or so mammals were moving about, some coming up and down the stairs to the lower level, a few set up at rickety folding tables strew about in no discernable order, but most appeared to be moving about the tracks themselves off to the left. The two rows of abandoned subway tracks were lined with a surplus of train cars, all connected in a chain that extended deep into the darkened tunnels beyond. Every individual car acted as a hotel room for members of Zootopia's underworld. It wasn't pretty, but it served its purpose well.

Judy took in the sights as the group strolled over to Honey's office just around the corner. They entered the relatively small room, full of papers, file cabinets, toolboxes, and miscellaneous parts and pieces all over. The walls were scattered with plywood boards and a few buckets on the floor collected water leaking from the missing tiles in the ceiling. A small metal desk rested against the one wall that wasn't falling apart.

"So what's the story?" The badger spoke as she jumped onto the desk, using it as a seat.

"It's a bit of a personal issue," Nick responded, "Carrots over there had a slight misunderstanding with them and we need to get the situation sorted out."

"Never thought I'd see you working with a bunny, but then again you've always been full of surprises. Tell me about these friends of yours."

"They're not really friends per say, but it was a group of three, pretty much impossible to miss. A rather tall raccoon, real smooth talker, a big pink hippo, not too bright, and a turtle in a wheelchair, not something you see every day."

"Oh I remember that turtle! We don't get too many reptiles around here, but I've seen stranger. The whole group of 'em were pretty unforgettable though."

"You met them?"

"Oh yeah, they showed up a few days ago, didn't say why they were here, payed cash up front, haven't seen them since, real quiet that group is."

"Are you telling me they're still here?"

"Not in house, no, they requested one of the private locations."

"Great, where are they?" Nick asked cheerily, both he and Judy were excited at the news.

"Hold on there Nick." Honey slowed the excitement, "You know I can't let you go find them, it's against policy."

"Yeah, but this is important, I wouldn't have asked you otherwise,"

"Sorry, but rules are rules, even for a slick fox."

"You know me Hon, never been one for rules."

Honey overlooked Nick's insistence, instead focusing on the rabbit standing just behind him. Judy gave her a pleading look, which seemed to soften the badger as her sternness faded away.

"This is about you, isn't it." Honey said to Judy.

"Kind of." She responded quietly as her partner took a step back, allowing everyone to see each other better.

"Listen, I don't know you, but I know Nick, and the only person he's ever helped is himself. If he went through this much trouble to help you, then it's got to be something special. Now I don't ask questions, I don't care to know what it is you are up to, I make my business out of not knowing yours. But- you are asking me to breech the security of one of my clients… Give me the full story and I might just 'misplace' my log book."

Judy looked to Nick, surprised at Honey's change of stance. The fox gave her a slow nod, giving her permission to explain everything. He knew that she could handle this one. Taking a breath and reaching into her pocket, Judy gave an apologetic look to the badger.

"Hi, so, I'm Officer Judy Hopps," She said as she showed her badge to Honey who had a mixture of confusion and betrayal on her face as she glanced over to Nick, "and that's my partner, Officer Wilde."

At this, Nick put on a grin and produced his own badge.

"I didn't know how to tell you…" The fox said.

A brief, tense pause was followed by bellowing laughter as the badger leapt off the desk and embraced Nick yet again.

"HA! Wow! Who woulda thought? I knew you were destined for big things Nicky."

Judy watched as a huge, sincere smile of relief filled his face.

"Thanks, not everyone's been so accepting."

"Are you kidding? I'm proud of you. And I can't wait to hear the rest of this, knowing you it's got to be good!"

Honey leaned against her desk as Nick and Judy began explaining the series of events that brought them to her. She was laughing and smiling all the way through, constantly prodding Nick, who would either snap back a witty quip or simply roll his eyes and leave it at that. The badger seemed concerned when Nick described Judy's injury, both of them could tell that made up her mind right there. After a few more minutes of sharing stories and anecdotes about the past, Honey walked over to Judy.

"You're sure you are only going to talk to them?" The badger questioned.

"That's the plan." Judy replied honestly.

"We just want this whole thing sorted out." Nick jumped in as well. "If we can figure it out so no one gets in trouble and they don't go to jail, then everyone's happy."

Honey nodded, turning around and opening the top drawer of her desk. She pulled out a large, battered book and a small note card. Flipping thought the book, she stopped on a page near the back and scribbled down some information onto the card. The badger then put everything back away, locking the drawer after it shut. Facing the two partners again, she held out the card, but yanked it back as Nick reached for it.

"Listen, this is a one time deal, mostly because I like you Judy, so don't expect to get this kind of help again. But I am open to go get dinner sometime, or we could just hang out here if you want to stop by whenever."

"Thanks Honey." Judy said, taking a step forward and grabbing the card before Nick had a chance.

"Catch ya later Hon." Nick smiled as the two turned to make their exit.

"Take care guys! Don't go causing trouble Nick!" Honey called after them as they headed back to the surface, continuing to offer her advice as they went out of earshot, "Watch out for cops… wait never mind that, well I mean you should still watch for them, other cops I mean, not each other. But look out for each other. Just don't die!"

"I'll tell ya Nick," Judy gave her partner a look as they stood back on the sidewalk, the badger's rough voice still partially audible through the cement below them, "you know some real interesting individuals."

"Honey's a special kind of mammal, great friend though." The fox replied with an honest grin.

"You know, now I need to hear all about the good old days, 'Tricky-Nicky'."

"Oh no carrots, don't you start with that."

"C'mon, it's such a good one, I can't believe I never thought of it before."

"I have made a terrible mistake… Note to self, you are not meeting anyone else I know."

"But wasn't that so much fun-"

"Just tell me where we're going."

"Fine," Judy slowed down her torment of the fox, it wasn't a good idea to egg him on this early in the morning. She looked at the note card Honey had given them, attempting to decipher the scribbles imprinted on it, "This just says 'The Bridge'."

"Alright," Nick perked up at the sound of the location, "looks like we're headed to Sahara Square."

* * *

That's right, I'm not dead! Time for some explaining, I was actually on a family vacation last week (it was wonderful, thanks for asking). I thought I'd have this chapter ready before I left but it didn't happen, mostly because I was watching some of the special features on the Zootopia Blu Ray and saw a character that I found really interesting and decided to include in this chapter at the last minute. Now I know I alluded to the big team-up last time, but this chapter just got too long to include it. I'm going to work overtime to get the next one out super quick. I'd like to thank you all for your patience, there are far too many stories that get abandoned and it's sad to see them go unfinished, I apologize if I scared any of you with my absence. Thank you all so much for reading and look forward to some good stuff next chapter.


	12. Chapter 11: Truce or Dare

_Knock Knock Knock_

The small wooden door resonated heavily as Judy pounded her fist against it. The whole building seemed to shake a little, unsurprising considering how rickety it appeared for the outside. Nick had lead them to a tiny shack sitting at the base of a pillar supporting the railway bridge coming into Sahara Square. It was a remote location, right on the outskirts of the district, accessible only by an unpaved road, more a pathway really, that wound its way through the dunes. The aptly named 'bridge' location was nothing more than a wooden structure propped up off the sand a few feet by posts that looked like they could snap in half at any moment. The porch the two officer were standing on was missing more than a few planks towards the ends and had no railing whatsoever.

 _Knock Knock Kno-_

Judy pulled away her last hit as the door creaked open.

"You two don't give up easily do you?" Bentley said, giving the officers a look of both frustration and disappointment.

"Nope." Judy replied as she pushed her way forward.

"Oh please, just come right in." The turtle remarked sarcastically while rolling his wheelchair backwards to avoid the freight train of a rabbit moving into the shack. Inside, although the décor was different, the room looked incredibly similar to the first time the two groups encountered each other. The biggest difference was the presence of a couch on the left side. Other than that, one large table sat towards the far end of the room, complete with computers and gadgets galore. The rest of the equipment had been stored either on the floor or the few other tables around the room. There was a small kitchen area in the left corner and a hallway leading off on the right.

"Where's Sly? I'd like to get my report back if you don't mind."

"Asleep. Now if you want to take a seat I'd be more than happy to talk to you about that paperwork."

"Yeah, we don't need you cracking any skulls carrots," Nick commented as he entered just after his partner, who was in the middle of the main room already, "at least not until I have some popcorn."

"Fine," Judy took a breath to calm down before grabbing one of the chairs at the main table and sitting down. Nick closed the door behind him and joined her, "but this better be good."

"Now I understand you two are upset and possibly confused. If it's any consolation, I voted to leave the city at least five time since we got here, but obviously my concerns were dismissed seeing how you got dragged into this anyway, and now I have to deal with it… Anyway, here's situation-"

"What's with all the noise?" Sly interrupted the turtle, appearing in the hallway with a yawn, rubbing his eyes as he spoke. He was dressed in light blue pajamas and his fur was clumped and messy, looking like he just rolled out of bed. He stopped as he entered the room, noticing Nick and Judy seated at the table. After letting out a quick sigh, he slumped his way over to the couch and lay down.

"What's with him?" Nick commented.

"He's got to rest up for tonight," Bentley replied, "the fact that raccoons are nocturnal doesn't help either."

"What are you doing tonight? Stealing more ZPD documents?" Judy asked irritably.

"Unfortunately I can't tell-"

"We're doing recon." Bentley was once again interrupted by Sly who, although he was still laying down starring at the ceiling, could tell everyone in the room was giving him inquisitive looks.

"Yes, wonderful, let's just tell the cops everything we are doing."

"Ah calm down Bentley, I'm the one who got us into this, let me deal with it."

The turtle scowled at Sly for a moment before grabbing a laptop off the table. "If you need me I'll be writing up another escape plan, for when this inevitably fails." With that he rolled his way down the hall and out of sight.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, really inspiring." Sly called after his friend. A brief silence followed as Nick and Judy sat awkwardly, waiting for him to do something. After a few seconds, the raccoon let out another sigh, mentally preparing himself to wake up and talk with the two officers.

"Don't mind him," He finally broke the quietness, slowly sitting up on the couch, his telltale suave tone starting to emerge from the tired mammal, "he's just a little stressed out. Not that I've been helping very much."

Judy opened her mouth to speak but Sly waved her off.

"I know, I know, your report. I understand you're not happy with me but I've got a good reason for this one."

"You'd better." The rabbit spoke up, taking control of the conversation, "I was having a good day, leading an investigation, not concerned about a gang of international criminals, it was nice. Then you showed up, robbed a friend, lied to us, and put me in the hospital. My whole week took a turn. Now the chief wants your head, as soon as he knows who you are, and I'm sure Interpol would be happy to hear of your presence as well, don't even get me started on them. I was just doing my job, writing some paperwork, and there you go taking it. Now I'm here on my day off dealing with this nonsense, so yeah you better have a real good reason for that."

"Like I said, we're doing some recon tonight. It's the first stage of anything we do." Sly continued, seemingly unfazed by Judy's quick rant. "Initially the plan was to pull the job and get out of here within a day or two, but Bentley stumbled upon something that kept us here. If we weren't staying here longer I wouldn't have cared for that report of yours, I'm used to being chased by now. In fact the look on Carmelita's face if she found out I was here would be priceless, but we're still here so our presence has to remain hidden, at least for a while."

"What exactly is keeping you here?" Nick asked in an attempt to moderate the contempt he could tell his partner was feeling from the response.

"It's a bit of a long story."

"Well, I don't know about you carrots, but I've got some free time and I'd love to hear it."

"Alright," Judy reluctantly agreed, "if he's here talking at least he isn't robbing anyone."

Nick and Sly both chuckled at her lighthearted pouting, noticing each other as they did so, realizing they may have had a bit more in common than either thought. Sly quickly jumped into story telling mode, explaining the events that brought the gang to Zootopia to begin with. He spoke of how a couple years ago his gang was fighting for the Cooper vault, an entire island housing his family fortune. After defeating a crazed member of his father's former gang, Sly faked amnesia so he and Carmelita could be together. Just the first few lines brought up an array of questions from the audience of two.

Realizing it was a bit complicated, the raccoon decided to start where all stories should, the beginning. Full of charisma and with a smooth delivery, Sly weaved a tale tracing back to his childhood. He described the book full of his ancestors thieving ways, the Thievius Raccoonus, and how on the day he was to inherit it, his parents were killed by the Fiendish Five. This group of criminals, were led by Clockwerk, who was so fueled by hatred for the Cooper family he slowly replaced himself with robotic parts in order to live long enough to see them wiped out. He continued on talking about how he met Bentley and Murray at an orphanage and how they've been inseparable ever since. Sly explained all about how, with their help, he became the thief he is today and how together, he and his gang proved themselves against their greatest foe and more.

All the trials and tribulations the three outlaws had faced were laid out for the officers to hear. They had been all over the world, exclusively stealing from other criminals. A few of their targets sounded familiar to Nick and Judy, Panda King, Rajan, the Klaww gang, probably read something about them while at the academy. It was an overload of information that seemed too farfetched to be true, but the way he spoke, the little details that made him laugh, the subtle emotion in his voice, as a thief he must be a good liar but this had to be genuine.

Nick could have sworn he saw Judy crack a smile when Sly started talking about Carmelita. It was funny to think about, the crazed inspector having a soft spot for a smooth talking criminal. From his stories, Carmelita didn't sound as bad as when they talked to her, of course all of this had to be quite some time ago, so they both wondered what could have happened to her. It was especially strange once Sly caught up with where he originally started. During their fight for the Cooper vault, the raccoon had risked his own life to save hers, and she bought the amnesia story, using it as an excuse to tell Sly he was an Interpol agent, her partner in fact. At this point Sly paused, a slight grin on his face, not of conceit but of happiness.

"Those were the days…" He trailed off, clearly lost in the memories the narrative had brought up.

Sly wasn't the only one deep in thought, Nick and Judy were both digesting the life story he just delivered to them. The outlandish adventures and strange concepts presented went mostly overlooked by the officers, but the two took the meaning behind them to heart. They each had a better understanding of the mammal they were talking with, the hardships he endured and the true nature of who he was. Nick especially felt for the raccoon, the things the two had to deal with early on in life, and how they dealt with them were remarkably similar. Even Judy could appreciate just how much Sly had gone through, the bonds he formed with Bentley and Murray, how much they all cared for each other, and how even though they were thieves, his gang was truly good hearted.

"So what happened next?" The rabbit asked quietly, respectful of the heavy emotion floating amongst those beside her.

"We all went our separate ways, it was a bittersweet moment for everyone. Carm and I were together, but the gang had broken up… To this day I still don't know if it was the right move." The raccoon's grin had disappeared, inside he thought back to that transition, torn between two distinct chapters of his life.

"It looks to me the gang's back together now, that's good right?"

"Yeah…" A smile made its way onto Sly's face, hovering somewhere between honest and forced it was clear a lot was going on behind it. In a jump that surprised Judy, but Nick knew all too well, Sly snapped back to his suave self, continuing the story. "So, anyway, Carm and I were together, Bentley was working with Penelope, the mouse I told you about, the one who helped us out on our last adventure, and Murray was living the dream with his van. We all had it pretty good, but after a few years you start to miss how things were. I had kept clean with Carmelita up until then, although the thought of the gang was always there, the urge to pull another heist, it's not something you can simply turn off."

Nick silently chuckled at this. He had been out of the con game for a little while and though it always felt good to mess with everyone around the station, he found himself missing his old friends more than anything. Their recent encounter with Honey really stuck out on this topic. While he would never go back to hustling pawpsicles, Nick wondered if he should try to reconnect with the friends he made over the years.

"I was scoping out a possible target for my comeback," The raccoon continued, "when, as if on cue, Bentley showed up. Said he needed my help. Turns out Penelope went missing a couple days earlier. So we pick up Murray and head out, all happy to be together again. Here's the problem, we needed some funds so I told the gang about the place I was casing and we pull the job. This is where it got bad. To her credit, Carmelita never really trusted my amnesia story and tried her best to keep an eye on me. She could tell I was itching to get back in the game. That night, she went to follow me and caught up with us just as we were making our getaway. She was fuming when she saw me back to my old ways, not that I blame her. But that's why I can't have her know I'm here in the city, she'd come straight for me without a care for anything that stood in her way."

"I see," Judy said thoughtfully, seeing the internal struggle Sly was facing, doing right by his friends or the one he loved, "but you still didn't answer my question."

"Oh, right!" Sly said after looking confused for a second, "This whole thing came about because Bentley's partner disappeared. Through some serious digging, he got a lead that suggested she was kidnapped, with the culprit residing somewhere in Zootopia. I've been trying to run some recon on our target for some time now but every time something manages to get in the way. First there was the whole Mr. Big ordeal, which I'll admit wasn't a bad thing, since we found a page of the Thievius Raccoonus that I didn't even know was missing, then you two force us to relocate at the last minute, and the last attempt an Interpol task force rolls up out of nowhere. I haven't had this much trouble since-"

"Mr. Big wasn't intentional?" – "What do you mean Interpol showed up?"

Nick and Judy interrupted the raccoon simultaneously, leaning forward in their seats in hopes of getting more information.

"Yeah, when doing some quick research into the city, Bentley stumbled on the shrew and his art collection, noticing a familiar page amongst his pieces. It's really cool to think about, there could be more pages, whole sections even, of my family legacy, thieving techniques, incredible information still out there. You bet we'll be looking into it after we find Penelope."

"What do you mean Interpol?" Judy asked again, this time prodding with a firm tone, clearly this was important to her.

"Okay, so yesterday, I was trailing a group to find out where they were headquartered when all of a sudden here comes Interpol flying down the road, sirens blaring. The truck I was tracking knew they were coming from miles away, veered off on some backroad and ditched. I didn't stick around much longer, can't risk the heat. But that was yet another failed attempt to recon our target."

"And who might your target be?" The rabbit inquired cautiously.

"Oh no, I've given you enough already. Besides, what's it matter to you?"

"Just humor me here, who are you after?"

"Wait, you don't think… Let me handle this one." Nick turned to his partner then back to Sly as he put it all together.

"What are you two thinking?" The raccoon asked smugly, knowing they were up to something.

"As strange as it sounds," Nick spoke casually, "we might need your help."

"Oh?" Sly responded inquisitively.

"A couple days ago, carrots and I were working on a case. A series of missing mammal reports. Then Interpol shows up saying our little investigation is bigger than anyone thought. And just yesterday Carmelita tells us one of her agents spotted a kidnapping in progress, matching the details of our case. We ride along with her to find the truck abandoned on some back road. I think you can see what I'm getting at."

"We're chasing the same group."

"Bingo."

Nick and Sly looked to each other, grins matching as the reality set it. For better or worse, a long chain of events had brought the pair of cops and gang of thieves together. They managed to meet at just the right time in their lives. The timing of Interpol and the case, Sly's current dilemma with Carmelita, the conditions were perfect. Under different circumstances none of them would be standing there that day. Things hadn't gone quite as expected for both sides, although nothing had been as expected since they first met. It was clear from the looks the three were giving each other there was only one way to go from here. None of them really liked the concept, but if it worked it worked.

"We help you with the case and you forget about that report?" Sly wondered.

"Close," Judy said, "we can't just ignore the report, we have to give Bogo something, but we should be able to take you out of it."

"I might be able to help you with that one."

"So we have a deal?" Nick asked unintentionally mimicking the raccoons tone.

"I suppose we do. Hey Bentley, I solved our problem!" Sly answered before calling down the hall. Bentley emerged from the end of the hallway a minute later, skeptically looking between a smiling Sly and the two officers still in the room. "Say hello to the newest members of the Cooper gang."

"Why do you do this to me…"

* * *

Welp, that's that. First off, sorry my posting schedule is off, that vacation really messed things up, should be back on track soon though. Now about this chapter, this one and the next one are very important for me. I have to make sure no plot holes pop up as things get going here. If anything starts sounding weird please let me know, I was running low on the amount of time I had to dedicate to this story so it might sound funky and I didn't pick up on it.

With that out of the way I have to once again thanks you guys. Chapter 10 passed not one but two incredible milestones for this story. As some of you know I was featured on ZNN a while back, resulting in a huge spike in views for that day. The day I uploaded Ch.10 resulted in more views than the day I was featured, which is insane to think about. Also, this story just passed the 10k view mark. 10,000. That's a huge number! I don't know what to say besides thank you. Each and every one of you have made my first attempt at fanfiction more than I ever hoped for. You have given me an incredible response, so I'm going to try my best to give you an incredible story. Thank you.


	13. Chapter 12: A Thief in the Night

"Judy!" Murray exclaimed upon his entrance to the hideout. "How's it going?! Are you feeling better? Sly didn't hurt you too bad did he?"

The hippo had been out shopping for the gang when the pair of cops arrived. He dropped the bags of supplies he was carrying on the floor and ran over to the rabbit, who resided on the couch next to Nick. Sly had since gone off to take a nap, trying to get some more rest before he went out that night. Bentley was over at the main table, getting his slide projector hooked up in order to bring their guests up to speed on the situation.

"Nothing too bad, I'll live, thanks." Judy replied with a smile, there was something about the overly affectionate ball of pink joy that seemed to brighten the mood. He reminded her of Clawhauser a little.

"Ohhh, I'm sorry about all that."

"It's okay, besides, it looks like we are going to be working together for a bit."

"Awesome! The Murray is pleased."

"Alright Murray," Bentley called from behind his computer, "if you can finish getting those supplies put away, I've got to explain everything to these two."

"Sure thing Bentley buddy." He replied before heading back outside to grab some more bags.

"Can you see that okay?" The turtle asked as he flipped on the projector, throwing a bright white light through the aging machine.

"Yeah, that's good." Judy replied.

"Alright, as you know, we are here for a kidnapper. Our target is one Henry Longfellow." A click of the projector displayed a familiar picture of a giraffe in Sahara Square. "Yes, the same one Sly told you about when we first met. He had to think quickly and decided to use legitimate information, which I was not pleased with." Another click pulled up the same giraffe, this time standing next to an unmarked truck. "Now we don't know much about him other than his role as head of a restaurant supply company. My guess is that it's a front for whatever he is actually planning." Moving to the next slide simply zoomed in on the truck's license plate. "We linked him to the kidnappings through this truck, registered to his company, it's one of a few that have been seen transporting the missing mammals." Clicking again brought up a satellite image of a large warehouse facility. "This is one of a few different locations his company operates. We've singled this one out because not only is it the largest, but the trucks involved frequent this one the most. Sly is going to recon it out tonight, hopefully we will know what exactly it is he's up to in there."

"That's all you have?" The rabbit asked as the screen went blank. She was appreciative of the additional info, but found it lacking at the same time.

"For now," Bentley replied, "I've got a few theories on how the Interpol case connects with this one, but no evidence to back them up at the moment."

"Oh! We still have to take care of that report."

"Don't worry, I've got it right here."

"Great, let's get to work."

Bentley picked out a folder from a stack next to his computer and rolled his way around the table, turning off the projector as he did. For the next hour or so the three rigged the police report. Well Bentley and Judy mostly, Nick sat back and watched most of the time, only adding a sarcastic comment when the timing was right. They replaced all mention of Sly and the gang with the likeness of Adam 'The Buster' an old gangster buffalo who was known for stirring up trouble around the city docks. According to Bentley he had been killed a little while back, but the ZPD would never know that, Mr. Big had called for the hit, and covered his tracks well. Mr. Big. Judy had almost forgotten about the shrew, she made a mental note to talk with him later on and explain the whole… interesting situation.

Murray finished up unloading all of the supplies he bought that day as Judy rewrote her report. As much of a pain as it was, it did have to be in her handwriting after all. Nick being Nick, had gotten bored and began snooping around, touching just about everything he probably shouldn't have. Truthfully, the fox was simply curious. While he may have run simple cons to make a quick buck, he always wondered about the professional criminals, and from the looks of it, the Cooper gang were professionals. It didn't take long for him to start chatting it up with Bentley and Murray. They were both surprisingly eager to share stories with him, some of the tech they used, how they planned put certain tasks, various aspects of how they functioned, Nick took it all in like a sponge. The only thing the two didn't talk much on was the actual execution of the plans.

"And what about this stuff?" Nick asked picking up a surprisingly heavy brown backpack sitting on a small side table in the corner of the room, surrounded by a few other pieces.

"Oh that's all Sly's field gear." Bentley informed him, "I'd leave it alone if I were you. He doesn't really like strangers touching his stuff."

"What is in this thing?" The fox ignored his host's words of caution, instead focusing more of his attention on the pack, moving one paw to open the flap at the top.

"Please don't open that!" The sharp warning caused Nick to cease his movement. "It's a paraglider, packed with extreme care so that it fits and deploys properly. If you open it someone is going to have to repack the whole thing."

"This is a parachute?"

"Paragl- same thing."

"Cool. But why does Sly need a parachute?" Much to the turtle's relief, the pack was placed back on the table.

"He uses the paraglider in special situations, mostly covering long distances of obstacles or ground he couldn't traverse on foot. Also so he doesn't fall off a building and die. There's actually a funny story about that, you see one of the first tests…" Bentley's story telling droned off as Nick noticed something even more interesting resting against the table. The mesmerizing golden sheen of the raccoon's cane glinted against the fox's eyes. He looked longingly at the piece before taking a deep breath and dropping the idea. Not because it was a priceless family heirloom that Sly had gone on about earlier, but simply due to the fact that he could see a blotch of gray fur reflected in the hook.

"Nice stuff you got here." Nick commented with a grin as he turned to face the raccoon who had entered the main room unnoticed.

"Glad to see you are all getting along." Sly responded in a similar manner, causing Bentley and Murray turned to see him as well.

"Wow, I guess I lost track of time," The turtle said as he checked his clock, "I'll start getting things ready, how's the van?"

"Ready whenever you are." Murray replied confidently.

The three all began to move without a word, each working on various pieces of equipment, obviously preparing for something. Judy, who had been watching Nick ever since she finished her report a few minutes back, checked her phone, it was 11:43 pm. Time really got away from both of them, and it was easy to tell why. Her partner was displaying a different kind of spark in him as he interacted with their hosts, the same energy Judy was starting to see in herself as well. It had to be something to do with solving this case. Working their daily beat was fun, and keeping Zootopia safe always made the rabbit smile, but cracking a big case was what the pair strived for, and this one was turning out to be another adventure in the making.

"What's going on?" Judy thought aloud as Nick stumbled towards her, clearing the way for Sly to get to the corner table.

"It's time for you to leave, that's what's going on." Bentley commented from behind his computer monitor on the central table.

"Now now," Sly's voice shoot from the opposite side of the room, where the raccoon stood dawning the pack and other gear, "why don't we let our new partners take a peek into what we're doing?"

"Another in a long line of terrible ideas."

"Come on, they can't all be that bad."

"I've been keeping a notebook of every one you come up with, sometimes I read them for a good laugh."

"See, they're useful for something."

Nick and Judy watched as Sly and Bentley went back and forth. The clearly annoyed turtle rolled his eyes while hiding a grin as he attempted to ignore the comments. Sly looked over towards the two cops after tightening down his leg pack, laughing quietly as he did.

"C'mon, these two could learn something, plus it'll give you someone else to talk to. Not that I don't enjoy hearing your nagging every five seconds."

"Fine. But only because we're late as is, and I don't want to waste any more time arguing."

With that, the raccoon winked before throwing on his mask and placing a tiny device in his ear.

"Alright, wanna give me a radio check?"

"Hang on," Bentley said, quickly focusing his attention on a stack of radios placed next to his computer, all wired to a bundle running out the closest window. The turtle flipped a few switches before picking up a headset and putting it on. "Check-one-two."

"Gotcha, I'm heading out, give me a recap en route." Sly took a breath and grabbed his cane, giving it a quick twirl and stepping to the door. The raccoon gave the room one last look and with a subtle nod he exited, jumping into the back of the van Murray had pulled around front.

"Well, come on over here if you want to see." Bentley huffed reluctantly, addressing the only two left in the room as the van was heard driving off into the night. Judy and Nick quietly rounded the table to see the intricate display set up on the other side. One monitor displayed a gps view of the city, with points plotted on the map and one dot visibly moving across it. Another had notes and pictures open in multiple tabs, obviously the data center to back up Sly's field work. Finally, right next to the stack of radios was a smaller screen, showing nothing but black. Bentley had explained to Nick earlier that the blank screen belonged to the binocucom station, a communication system of his own design.

"Nest to Papa Bird."

Nick struggled to hold back laughter at the seriousness of Bentley's tone as he spoke.

"Nick!" Judy promptly scolded her partner.

"Sorry, no offence, call signs are silly in general, but that one takes it."

"No they can't….Fine." The turtle continued talking into his mic, reaching over and flipping a switch on the top radio afterwards.

"Can they hear me now?" Sly's voice crackled through a set of speakers on the table in front of them.

"Yes."

"Great! As I was saying, I have to agree with you Nick."

"Now hold on, I find the codenames to be quite useful." Bentley raised his voice slightly, hoping to better convey his point over the radio.

"I know that, considering you're the one who comes up with them."

"That's because they conceal our identities in the unlikely case of someone cracking our communications network, not to mention the cool dramatic effect… I've pinged the drop site for you Murray."

"Thanks Bentley." The hippo's voice chimed back after a few clicks on the gps computer. Even though the three thieves bickered almost constantly, their workflow was never interrupted, they had it down to a science.

"Hey," Sly spoke up again, "if we have code names, what are Nick and Judy's?"

"Liability and Irresponsible." The turtle mumbled under his breath.

"Ooh, I got this!" Nick jumped in, "You're carrots, obviously, and I can be…"

"Dumb fox?" His partner suggested teasingly.

"What have I done to deserve this?" Bentley leaned back, placing a hand to his head as the banter continued flowing both around him and through the radio. A few minutes later he could see that Murray was approaching his target, not only by the gps display in front of him, but because the conversation began slowing.

Nick and Judy watched as the dot representing the van turned onto a dead end dirt road, parking right next to a marker point on the map. Immediately, a smaller dot began moving from the van towards one of the surrounding buildings.

"Okay, the antenna is up." Murray crackled through the radio.

"We have a repeater station on the van to boost the binocucom signal when working at longer ranges." Bentley explained to the two onlookers. Sly's dot on the map came to rest inside the building. A moment later the small screen on the binocucom station came to life.

"You reading me Bentley?" The raccoon was heard as the view of a large, well lit warehouse could be seen on the display.

"Wow." A few clicks and keystrokes brought the binocucom view onto one of the larger monitors so everyone could have a better view. "That is one busy supply company. Be careful Sly, see if you can get a view of what's going on inside that main building."

With the picture now much larger, Nick and Judy could see the warehouse, which was more like a heavily secured compound. A barbed wire toped fence circled the whole property, large spotlights adorned the exterior of the main building, illuminating way more of the parking area and loading bays than necessary, and workers walked in pairs from the main warehouse to a series of smaller offices at the front. Either this was the busiest restaurant supply company ever, or there was something else going on. The view of the location quickly zoomed out, revealing that Sly was perched on a nearby rooftop.

"Alright, I'm going to find a way in." Sly said quietly as the display cut out.

"Okay, that is pretty cool." Judy commented.

"What is?" Both Nick and Bentley asked at the same time.

"That video binocu-thingy."

"The binocucom?"

"Yeah, that. The ZPD could really use one of those, all we have are normal radios, giving dispatch or other officers a visual feed of any situation would be incredibly helpful."

"Just ask Bentley," Sly commented over the radio, his tone lowered to a whisper, "He designed it after all."

"That's right, you said you built it to make field work easier," Nick said, recalling their conversation from earlier, "and the ZPD does a lot of field work, so why not."

"Sorry," The turtle replied, "but this is a proprietary system."

"I remember when we used to work without these." Sly came through again. "Remember those days Bentley?"

"How could I forget them, trying to coordinate everything was a nightmare, the levels of stress I experienced were well above daily recommended levels."

"Hey, it wasn't any better out in the field. Before we had the map built in, Bentley had to call out directions to me." The raccoon let out a soft laugh while directing his story to Nick and Judy. "Whenever I started heading the wrong way he would freak out and all I'd hear is him yelling 'recalculating!' in my ear."

"Ooh, ooh, what about when Sly broke your first prototype?" Murray joined in over the radio as well.

"Hey, I told you that one wasn't my fault." Bentley hid a smirk with a subtle shake of the head as Sly tried to argue the point.

"Okay, let's try to keep radio chatter to a minimum."

"Aw, don't worry Bentley," The screen came to life again, this time the view was of a new rooftop, "besides, I made it."

The view shifted as Sly showed he was now on top of the main warehouse.

"How did you…" Judy wondered out loud, unsure as to how the raccoon managed to get up there at all, let alone so quickly and unseen.

"I just ran across these." Having heard her through the radio, Sly pointed his binocucom camera at a set of telephone cables that ran off the side of the large building. This simply raised more questions in the rabbit's mind.

"Right," Bentley interrupted, glancing at his other monitor for notes, referencing a schematic of the building, "you're going to want to look for a large exhaust duct for the ventilation system. It should be near a set of skylights."

"There it is." The camera searched for a moment before landing on the duct described and then going black as it was put back away. "Wait…"

"What is it?" Judy and Nick watched as the turtle in front of them responded anxiously.

"I… don't know, I'm going to get a better look." Sly said in an uneasy tone as he carefully removed a skylight panel. All three back at the hideout waited, only hearing whooshes and muffled clanging while the raccoon climbed through the opening and made his way onto a cross beam overlooking the open warehouse space. After a much longer pause than they liked, the binocucom screen lit up again.

"Uh Bentley, you might want to take a look at this…"

* * *

Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait. With the Cooper gang taking up more of the focus this time I had to really try hard to make sure I captured the energy and feel the games portrayed them with. It took me a while before I was comfortable with what I had written, and my main goal right now is not to rush, only upload chapters I feel are complete...that and I've been busy playing Pokemon Go (#TeamMystic). Anyway, uploads are still aimed towards once a week, and we're really getting into the fun parts of the story now. Writing Sly especially has become one of my favorite things so I can't wait to keep going. Please let me know what you thought of the interactions not only within the gang, but between them and Judy/Nick as well. As always, thanks so much for reading, I'll see you in the next chapter.


	14. Chapter 13: X

"Ah, Officer Hopps, I take it you are here to hand in your report?" Bogo greeted the rabbit as she entered his office the next morning.

"Yes sir," Judy kept up a smile, trying not to draw attention to how tired she was, "it's all right here."

A lot was running through the bunny's mind as she dropped the folder onto the chief's desk. The guilt of working with a criminal behind the ZPD's back. The fact that the report she just turned in was one big lie. All of it burdened her greatly, though she hid it well. But there was one thing that Judy just couldn't shake, something that had stuck in the back of her head and wouldn't go away. What she witnessed last night was not something easily forgotten.

"Well, I have to go find Nick, see you later chief." Taking a step back, she excused herself, not wanting to be anywhere near Bogo until this case was over with.

"Good," The buffalo spoke as he put on his glasses, picking up the paperwork at the same time, "as soon as you find Wilde, go meet with Inspector Fox, she has a few things to go over with you."

"Sure thing." Judy nodded as she turned and left the office, letting out a quiet sigh of relief once outside.

There was a strange mood to the station that morning, it wasn't particularly busy, nothing was visually out of place, but the atmosphere felt…different. Perhaps it was all in the rabbit's head, the lack of sleep definitely was not helping her. Judy tried to blame it on some delusional paranoia in an effort to keep herself functional, which worked for about three minutes. The second she caught a glimpse of Nick over by the water cooler it was clear he was feeling the same way. He was good at hiding his emotions, but over time the rabbit had gotten pretty good at reading him.

"Morning carrots." The fox greeted her casually.

"Hey, Bogo said we're supposed to go see Carmelita."

"Ah yes, because her charming personality is just what I need right now."

Judy was surprised when her partner cracked a grin before finishing off his drink.

"Look, there's no point letting that get to you, right now all we can do is our job." Nick commented, noticing the troubled look on the bunny's face. It wasn't hard for him to guess what was causing it.

Taking a deep breath, Judy nodded before leading the way towards Interpol's makeshift headquarters.

"You're here." The vixen's stern voice shot clearly above the ambient noise of the busy workplace, catching the attention of the two officers. Carmelita was waiting near the map at the front of the room, holding a small photograph at her side.

"And good morning to you too." Nick replied sarcastically as the inspector came over to them. He still didn't like her attitude, but Judy could attest that both of them saw Carmelita differently after hearing Sly's story.

"I've got to make this quick, we have something big planned for later today so I can't afford any wasted time. First off I want to apologize."

The two of them were both surprised at this, curious to see where the vixen was going with it.

"I didn't know you just came from the hospital when I dragged you with me the other day."

"Oh it's okay," Judy responded, "I wasn't in too bad a shape."

"Doesn't matter, if anyone under my supervision gets hurt I take it personally, and that only added additional risk. Anyway, I need to update you two on the case. Forensics checked out that scene and we were able to link the truck to a private shipping service. The problem is things are taking far too long, more mammals are going missing every day, and the ones we have found are all… it's getting out of hand."

The vixen took a breath to calm down after working herself up on that last bit. Glancing down at the picture she was holding, Carmelita turned to the map before placing the photo against it, back side out.

"Winthrop." The Inspector called to her partner in a much quieter tone.

"Yeah?" The weasel spun in his chair, being seated at the closest desk on the right wall.

"What number was Mr. Sendak?"

"Uh, eighteen."

"Thanks."

Carmelita pulled out a pen and proceeded to inscribe '18 – Winnifred Sendak. File #00502' on the back of the picture.

"Eighteen." She continued, locating a red pin on the map, "Our friend here is the eighteenth missing mammal in this case." Using the pin, Inspector Fox held up the picture and stuck it to the map, "Report came in just this morning."

The group took a moment to look over the map of Zootopia, which was quickly filling up pictures and pins. A few of the photos had big red X's marked through them, it wasn't hard to figure out what that meant. The diversity of mammals that had disappeared was impressive, everything from a rhino to a sheep, all of them missing, or dead. Carmelita's team had been attempting to find a pattern in it, studying every location, type of animal, the whole big picture. Judy on the other hand, at least for right now, was only concerned with one photo. The smiling grizzly bear freshly pinned to the map. Interpol had no clue as to his whereabouts, his wellbeing, anything, all they knew was he had vanished, same as the others. They didn't know Nick and Judy had seen exactly what happened to the poor bear, that it all went down the night before, and that a red X belonged on the photo.

SUNDAY, 12:24 A.M. (The Night Before)

Nick and Judy looked to each other uneasily as the first picture appeared on the screen in front of them. Sly had snapped it with his binocucom and sent it over to Bentley for a closer look, something about being higher quality. The inside of the warehouse was dimly lit, just barely enough to distinguish some of the larger objects on the ground. An eerie red glow emanated from one of the walls off in the darkness. These unknown details sat in the background however, overshadowed by the one row of bright lights, which demanded attention at the far end of the structure.

Underneath the spotlights sat a strange contraption. Seeming like a mix between a dentist chair and a mad scientist's operating table, the device was surrounded by tables of tools, bindings, and lights. Wires ran off of the chair to a few carts in the immediate area and then out into panels on the back wall. It wasn't possible to make out the details from Sly's view point up in the rafters, but some of the light bled outward, revealing what looked like shipping crates buried in the darkness.

"Strange." That was Bentley's response. Judy and Nick were caught off guard by the calmness of the turtle's tone as he delivered his reply. "See if you can get a closer look."

"On it." Sly's voice crackled back through the radio.

About thirty seconds later another picture came through. This time the view was from almost directly above the chair. A morbid feeling filled the air as blood stains and claw marks could be seen on and around the device.

"I don't like this." The raccoon's tone was ever so slightly shaky, the scene must have put him off.

"Alright, grab a few more shots and get out of there, we still need to check out those offices."

The computer quickly displayed about five more pictures as Sly took them rapidly. The turtle glanced at them to make sure they looked alright before printing out hard copies. As the printer underneath the table started up, Sly called over the radio again.

"Wait, I think I hear something."

"Uh Sly, you've got company." The gps display Bentley had showing everyone's location was tracking an unknown individual near the raccoon.

Without a word the binocucom display turned on again, Sly was watching two figures moving towards the contraption from the left side of the building. Zooming in as much as he could revealed one of them was a large spotted giraffe, accompanied by an indistinguishable smaller creature about the size of an otter. Unfortunately he had gotten too far away for a good view.

"Hang on," Bentley doubled checked something on his computer, "That's Longfellow himself!"

"What do you think they're doing?" Sly whispered over his radio, keeping the view on the two figures down below.

"I wish I knew, if only we could hear what they're saying."

"Someone else is coming." The view panned right as an additional light source flooded the area then disappeared, resulting from a door opening and closing.

Shouting could be heard from below, too obscure to make any of it out, but someone was yelling at something. A second later three more large mammals appeared coming in from the right, draped in shadow at first, but as they approached the bright lights of the chair it was clear two rhinos were escorting a struggling grizzly bear whose arms were bound behind his back.

"I don't like this." Sly voiced his concerns at the situation while Longfellow looked to be directing the scene below.

Even the background buzz of the radio seemed to quiet down as they watched in silent dread at what happened next. Longfellow motioned towards the chair sitting dauntingly in the center of the group. The two rhinos forced the bear, who was doing his best to resist, into a harness, strapping him down to their apparatus. What few lights were on in the warehouse dimmed as machinery all across the back wall kicked to life. The smaller mammal, most likely the giraffe's assistant, stepped around back of the chair as the rhinos went to hold down the bear's already secured limbs.

A tiny shimmer of light glinted from something on the bear's neck as a large red button began blinking slowly on one of the machines. Longfellow, in a deliberately slow stride, stepped over to the button, pausing with one hoof outstretched. After the tension had climbed sufficiently high, one swift stroke sent the button inwards. There were no screams of pain, no cries of agony, only the sound of machinery churning and pumping, doing its job as intended. The rhinos shifted their weight, quelling the muffled shuffling of the bear's attempts to break free.

The auditory wind down of the equipment paralleled the poor mammal's fleeting strength, eventually bringing the entire building to a harsh calmness. Everyone feared the worst as the rhinos slowly backed off. The chair tilted forwards slightly and the straps were unbuckled, freeing the grizzly from the device. Surprisingly, the bear stood up, no resistance, no attempt to flee, in fact no movement at all. He simply stood at the base of the torturous machine, staring blankly into the darkness of the warehouse.

"Bentley…" Sly looked to his partner for an idea of what to do next while a miniscule green light flashed from a collar the bear was now wearing.

"Sly, get out of there." The turtle spoke briefly and in as calm a tone as he could manage.

Taking a moment to process all of the options, the raccoon kept his binocucom pointed right at the statuesque grizzly. As if in slow motion, the bear leaned off to its left before stumbling to catch itself.

"Get out. Now." Bentley repeated sternly.

Sly heard his partner's concerns but was fixated on what was unfolding below him. The stumble had snapped the bear out of whatever trance it was in, and all hell proceeded to break loose. Letting out a guttural roar, the grizzly spun around and charged Longfellow, clawing at its neck with one paw and lashing forwards with the other. The two rhinos jumped to intercept the bear, while the giraffe barely even flinched, calmly staring down his attacker. The flurry of screaming and shouting from below was interrupted by an electronic 'beep' and red light from the bear's collar. Mere inches from his apparent target, the limp corpse of the grizzly fell lifelessly to the ground with a loud 'thud', echoing gloomily throughout the warehouse.

The video feed shut off abruptly and without a word, Sly made his exit.

MONDAY, 7:48 A.M. (Present)

"Are you even listening?" Carmelita's harsh voice brought Judy back from reliving the night's events.

"Huh? Yeah." The rabbit blinked quickly as she returned to the present, pretending she had heard everything the Inspector said.

"Good, you two get on that, I've got work to do." The vixen proceeded to meet two Interpol agents at the door before exiting the room with them.

"What did I miss?" Judy turned to her partner after watching Carmelita leave, confused as to how she could have missed anything the commandingly loud fox said.

"Well, besides the part where she made it clear she didn't like me…again," Nick smirked at the unamused rabbit, "she wants us to do more research into each of the victims."

"Alright."

"Listen, carrots. Don't worry about last night, we'll work on that later, right now we have to focus on being here."

"Yeah…I know… So, research, what do ya say we _hop_ to it!"

"Ugh, please never attempt a joke ever again."

"It wasn't a joke, it was pun."

"It was a detriment to mammals everywhere, that's what."

The banter continued throughout the day as Nick and Judy looked through Interpol's entire database on all eighteen involved in the case. The two knew who was to blame for it, but they couldn't tell anyone at the ZPD, not yet at least. For one it would give away Cooper, plus the situation was far too dangerous to let anyone rush in unprepared. Right now the best approach was to help Sly and his gang gather intel and see what happens from there.

This didn't mean the two would be unable to help from inside the ZPD though, in fact using all of the resources available could be beneficial. Researching the victims would hopefully give better insight into Longfellow's targets, and possibly his plan in general. Unfortunately the giraffe was covering his operation well, after a few hours of digging, neither of the officers had found any useful information. All of the mammals involved had most of their records wiped clean, and the ones they did have gave them nothing more than a face and name.

Letting Judy continue the investigating, Nick got up and took a walk to clear his head. After grabbing a drink he strolled back into the room, passing by the large map in the front. Whether it was in an effort to prolong his break, or an attempt at actual investigating, Nick stopped to look over the case map. He wasn't searching for patterns or anything like that, just observing when something caught the fox's eye. One of the victims' pictures, one with a large red X through it, hung in a part of the city he knew all too well. Slowly, an idea sparked up in his head.

Moving quickly, but without drawing attention to himself, Nick went over to the computer Judy was just about ready to give up on. Without a word he took over the machine and printed off a sheet with all of the victims' names and pictures.

"What is it?" Judy questioned, knowing her partner had thought of something, good or bad, she wasn't sure yet.

"We've been going about this all wrong." The fox said quietly before walking to the printer to retrieve his paper. Satisfied with what he saw after giving it a once over, he motioned for Judy to come with him.

"Nick?" The rabbit questioned as she caught up with him by the door.

"We have access to the ZPD's and Interpol's systems, so we can only see what's been reported to them."

"Right."

"And what types of mammals don't like reporting things to the government?"

"Well you for one."

"Exactly."

"Wait, how does that…You don't think…" Judy trailed off as she started piecing together her partner's logic.

"Criminals, hustlers, delinquents, now usually we have a record of them, but the good ones, or if they're real lucky, don't get caught-"

"So they wouldn't be anywhere in our database, that makes sense. But none of those looked like the criminal type, and besides, if we don't have anything on them, who would?"

"Hey Clawhauser, let Bogo know we're heading out to check on something for Carmelita, see you tomorrow." Nick called as the pair passed by the front desk and out of the station.

"Sure thing guys." The cheetah responded brightly.

Turning back to his partner once outside, Nick continued with a grin. "I think a certain turtle might be able to help us with that."

* * *

And the plot thickens...

So that's another chapter out of the way, and now my excuse for taking forever (I have a new one every time, isn't it great?). I'm just busy, that's really it, I hope the timing between chapters isn't getting too much for you, I do my best to put them up as soon as I can. Enough about me and my failures, lets talk about the story. Obviously this chapter got a little dark, I'm trying to convey the severity of the situation, this ain't no cartoon where everyone lives happily ever after. However the balance between gritty/dark and comedic/lighthearted is proving difficult, but fun. If you find any issues with this chapter please let me know, as it is starting to set up a few pivotal points later on, and eventually the climax itself. As always thank you for reading, without you all this would be is me rambling to myself on the internet. Thank you.


	15. Chapter 14: Deadlines

"Nick?" Judy's voice interrupted her partner, who had been going on and on with speculation and thoughts about the case for most of the trip. The fox had been so caught up in his own words, he never noticed they were falling on deaf ears. The police station was not terribly far from the Cooper gang's hideout, but there was no way they could take a cruiser without drawing suspicion from Bogo. Or at least that's what they thought, the paranoia involved with lying to the Chief had begun to cloud the officers' judgement. Judy especially was having second thoughts, the bus ride and walk through the quiet back streets were no help to the situation. She had plenty of time to think things over, and the only thing on her mind was what happened the night before.

"What's up carrots?" Nick replied in his usual, smug tone as they crossed the border into Sahara Square.

"Why are we still working with the Cooper gang?" Nick was taken aback by this, the seriousness in the rabbit's quiet voice stuck out from the casual delivery.

A slight tilt of the head and raising one eyebrow was his response, queuing Judy to rephrase.

"I mean, why this case? We know who the suspect is, we know his location…we know what he's done… We should hand this one over to Interpol, let Carmelita take care of him before he hurts anyone else."

At this, Nick stopped, an undertone of concern visible on his face as he looked down to the sand quietly blowing across the sidewalk. He understood exactly what she was saying, clearly taking a moment to put a lot of thought into his reply.

"Let me be clear," He spoke after taking a deep breath, "I agree with you. Is handing this over the smart thing to do? Yes. But it's not the right thing to do."

Judy opened her mouth to voice a rebuttal but quickly stopped herself, noticing the fox was simply looking for the right way to phrase something.

"We decided to work with Sly, they help us, we help them. Now, you have to understand, anyone on that side of the law lives by a code. There is a certain honor among thieves. If we give up this case, and Interpol rushes in their while Sly is pulling his job, we are not only betraying his trust, but he risks getting caught as well. I'm all for ending this thing as quickly as possible, but we have to get Cooper's approval first."

Silence fell as the two looked to each other briefly before continuing the walk, without even thinking about it. This time with Judy mulling over Nick's words.

"Okay." She said after the two had ventured a good distance down the road.

The rest of the walk passed quietly. Both parties deep in thought, about the case, the Cooper gang, each other and everything in between. It was surprisingly peaceful, the sun slowly setting, its bright golden rays becoming lost in the rolling dunes of Sahara Square, on another occasion it could even be considered romantic. The relative calm of the still evening faded with the sun as their destination drew closer. Reality set in once the hideout became visible under the train bridge. Judy and Nick both knew exactly what this meeting was going to decide.

"Hey." Sly greeted the two as they entered the hideout. The raccoon was laying casually on the couch, his cane leaning against the side.

"Hi Nick! Hi Judy!" Murray called from where he stood next to Bentley, helping with one of the many gadgets on the table at the other end.

"How's it going big guy?" Nick replied to the enthusiastic hippo, jumping right back to himself with a grin on his face.

"Afternoon you two." Bentley sat back in his wheelchair in an effort to direct his attention towards the officers.

"Oh, hey Bentley, I need your help with something." Nick said as he started walking over to where the turtle was.

"Should've expected that. No 'hi' for me, just 'I need help'."

"Come on, no one said hi to me either." Sly commented as well, both of them using a playful tone, teasing Judy and Nick the second they entered the hideout.

"Fine, hi you two." Judy spoke up, forcing a smile onto her face. It was clear the serious talk would have to wait, at least for a little bit.

"So," Nick continued as he rounded the table, coming up next to Bentley, "that computer of yours, you said it was only connected to other criminals, right?"

"Something like that." The turtle responded tentatively, unsure of the cop's intentions.

"Think you can run some names for me, see if they pop up anywhere in there?"

"You don't actually think a network for active criminals would have any link to their true identities?"

"Well, I mean, maybe not all…"

"That said, I do like to keep a list of possible contacts in any area we work in, so there's a chance you could find whoever you're looking for there."

"Great," Nick said as he placed the paper he printed earlier in front of Bentley, "this is all of Longfellow's know victims, the ZPD has nothing on them in our system, hopefully you can find at least one of them. How big is that list of yours anyways?"

After quickly looking over the paper and inputting a few commands on his computer, the turtle read off his contacts. "6,174 in the immediate area."

"Jeez, that's more than Hopps has siblings."

"Hey!" Judy called over to her partner, "I heard that."

"So, think you can find any of them?" Nick continued after shooting a particularly smug grin back.

"I'll see what I can do." The turtle fixed his glasses and went to work.

While Bentley typed away on his computer, Nick casually strolled over to Judy, who was standing at the foot of the couch, talking with Sly and Murray. The fox took a seat on one of the arm rests, hoping to engage in more small talk with the two outlaws. He had a subtle fascination with how they functioned as a professional gang, a carefree attitude at first glance, but a well-oiled machine underneath. The variety of toys and gadgets they used interested him as well, it was crazy how effectively they used them. Cooper's cane especially had peaked his curiosity, and seeing it was merely an arm's length away from him, he hoped he could get a hand on the tool. Unfortunately, his interest would go unfulfilled as the conversation in progress reached Nick's ears.

"How long do you think it'll take you to catch Longfellow?" Judy could not bring herself to wait any longer as she eased her way into asking Sly's permission to hand over the case.

"It depends," the raccoon spoke from where he lay, using minimal effort to prop himself up as he did so, "I'm sure Bentley's already putting a plan together, but we definitely need to do more recon, and then setup for the heist, so at least two more days. It's longer than I'd like it to be, but it's what we have to do."

"Gotta take into account all the risks, right?"

"One thing I remember my dad telling me was 'you don't have a plan if you don't have a plan b'. We have to think about and plan around every eventuality."

"Well, what if you didn't have to do that for this one?"

This caught Cooper's attention. He sat up just enough to make eye contact with Judy, giving her a puzzled yet interested look, knowing she was up to something.

"I know you have been working hard on this case, but so have we." The rabbit paused to find the right phrasing, "I don't want to wait around, letting him murder all those mammals. The pictures you took last night, it's all the evidence the ZPD and Interpol would need to move in and take care of this right now. Let us handle it, you don't have to risk anything going in there by yourselves and nobody would ever know you were here."

"She's got a point Sly," Murray chimed in, "I don't like that Longfellow. Giraffes have too many spots, you can never see 'em when they're in a group, it freaks me out a little. It'd be nice to let someone else do all the hard work for once."

"Got anything to add Wilde?" Sly asked without even looking at the fox seated on the arm rest behind him.

"I'm going to leave it between you two."

"Fair enough," The raccoon closed his eyes as he sat up, now properly addressing Judy, "I know where you're coming from. What Longfellow is doing is awful, and you wouldn't be doing your job if you didn't what to stop him as soon as possible. But, we are not here to stop him."

A look of resentment and confusion washed over the rabbit's face, unsure how to take that last statement.

"I mean he is a crazed, murderous, kidnapping lunatic who needs to be taken down, but that isn't the reason we are here. Our goal has been to find and rescue Penelope, Bentley's partner. If Longfellow has her, like we think he does, then sending in the cops could ruin our one chance at getting her back."

"But if she is in there, the ZPD would rescue her along with anyone else he has locked up."

"Yes, and then hand her over to Interpol, where Carmelita would arrest her and probably use her as leverage against me."

Judy went to argue her side again, but stopped herself, taking a moment to think, really process what Sly was saying. She had gotten so wrapped up in her idea of justice that the sincerity in the raccoon's voice had gone unnoticed. It was clear he wanted Longfellow put behind bars as much as she did, but he knew things had to happen a certain way, and not everyone could be happy about it.

Slowly, Judy swept her look around to everyone around her, reading exactly what all their faces said. With a barely distinguishable nod, even Nick told her to let it go.

"Two days, right?" The rabbit conceded in a quiet tone, knowing what she was saying, but unsure of the outcome it would have.

"Two days." Sly responded confidently, "We'll get it done, then Longfellow is all yours."

Perhaps he had been listening in on the conversation, or maybe the timing just so happened to land perfectly, but either way Bentley's shrewd, nasally voice ended the discussion. "Alright Nick, we've got a match."

"Cool." The fox jumped up and headed back over to the other side of the table, followed by everyone else. Even Sly, through some obviously exaggerated groans, got up and joined.

"It's not all of them, but I found six of the victims. There's not a lot of information on them, but what I do have is rather interesting."

Judy glanced at the screen displaying the results, six boxes held neatly organized descriptions of the mammals. Next to the names was a bolded line reading 'specialization'. Each of them had something different, there was a skunk labeled 'technology/gadgets', a tiger with 'athletics', a rabbit under 'infiltration', a sheep saying 'strategy', a rhino categorized as 'crowd control', and finally a grizzly bear – 'field work/charisma'. Names, locations, skills, any other useful information filled up the rest of the easy to view boxes.

"I've been developing a theory," The turtle continued, "and this evidence only supports it further."

"Great, what is it?" Judy asked, hopeful this meant the gang could end things quicker.

"I can't say right now, not until I am certain of its legitimacy. We don't need any confirmation bias plaguing this operation."

"Think you can run me off a copy of that? I'd like to compare it with my notes."

"Sure." With a simple click of the mouse, Bentley brought the printer to life and handed the sheet over to Judy.

"You finish up that bug yet?" Sly asked as he looked to the device Murray was helping with when the two officers first entered the building.

"Well it's technically not done, the prototype is only in version 3, and the coding could use some updating, but field operation is feasible."

"In English, please."

"Yes, we can use it."

"See, how hard was that?"

"Extremely," The turtle responded straight faced, "why? Are you ready to go right now?"

"Hey, the quicker we get this thing in there, the more info it'll send back." Sly took a step back and stretched quickly, getting ready to go to work, obviously trying to advance their schedule. Judy took notice to this, appreciative the raccoon was taking his word seriously.

"You do make a good point. Alright, suit up, I'll get things ready over here."

"How would you two like to go for a ride? Murray's been dying to show off the van." Sly addressed Nick and Judy while Bentley began rigging up his binocucom station.

"I'm down," Nick agreed happily, "how 'bout you carrots?"

"Eh, why not." Judy figured the big pink ball of joy that was 'The Murray' might distract her from whatever was going on at Longfellow's compound that night.

"Awesome!" The hippo drew their attention with an outburst, "C'mon outside, I'll give you the grandest of tours."

Without waiting for confirmation, he practically ran out the door. Sly gave the two cops a nod, letting them know to follow Murray while he readied up. Once outside, the two found him standing proudly in front of the not so inconspicuous vehicle.

"Behold! The fourth member of our gang, I don't have a name for her yet, but she needs no introduction." Neither of the officers had ever seen anyone so excited to talk about a beat up old van. "It doesn't look like much, but there's a lot hiding underneath the sick paint job. I like to do all the modifications myself, but sometimes Bentley doesn't let me touch his new gadgets and gizmos." The hippo began to walk around the exterior, motioning to parts as they passed them. "Kevlar reinforced tires, got those after Carmelita nearly took us out in Cairo. Extra support to the chassis in order to handle all the bits we added. Custom exhaust, she may look good, but she sounds even better. Anyway that's just the outside." Flinging open the driver's door revealed a mostly stock dash, but a center console that looked like it came out of an airplane. Without even thinking, he started listing off what each switch, knob and button did. "This is where the magic happens. We got the push bar actuator, satellite controls, emergency roof release, turret elevator, not sure when we are going to fix that, and the rocket boosters, Bentley never said why we needed those, but they're awesome! Oh, and my personal favorite, the cruise control." For someone who liked to scribble in coloring books, he sure was serious about his van.

"Pretty cool, huh." Sly's voice startled Nick and Judy, the sneaky raccoon had managed to walk right up behind them without them noticing.

"Please don't do that." The rabbit said in a gasp as she turned around, allowing her partner time to hide his shock under a veil of laughter. Both of them found it impressive actually, Judy could usually hear anyone coming up behind her, in fact it had become an ongoing game at the ZPD to see who could get closest to her before she noticed. Wolford currently held the record at 39 feet, or at least he did.

"I'm sorry," Cooper chuckled apologetically, "but it was just too tempting, not to mention it's good practice. Speaking of, here's your phone."

Sly produced a cell phone from his thigh bag, watching Judy quietly freak out, checking to see if all of her stuff was still in her pockets.

"Haha, nah I'm just kidding, this is Nick's phone." The fox who had previously been laughing at the display quieted down once he realized his phone was in fact not where he left it. Hiding his embarrassment under a grin and a quick roll of the eyes, he snatched back his belongings.

"Not gonna lie, that's pretty impressive." Nick commented.

"So did Murray show you the inside yet?"

"Some of it." Judy replied as Sly swung open the rear doors and hoped in.

"Well, come on in." The raccoon said, folding down a bench seat from the left wall.

The two cops had taking a ride in the van before, but under the circumstances neither really took a good look at it. The right wall looked like a scaled down version of Bentley's station back in the hideout. A small monitor sat above a fold out keyboard, all mounted to a large metal sheet containing other displays. One was definitely a binocucom station, another appeared to be some kind of radar, and still others remained unidentifiable. Mounting brackets adored the floor, roof, door frames and anywhere one might be needed. Other than that, the rear cargo area seemed fairly bare.

Sly pulled his cane out from where it was stowed on his back and hung it on a rack next to him before sitting down. Nick and Judy joined him on the one long seat as Murray fired up the van and peeled out, showing off just a little to his newest passengers. The ride over to the drop off point went surprisingly quickly. They had moved the site closer to the compound, thanks to information gained on last night's mission, however the van would have to be moved further out after the ditch. While en route, Cooper spent most of the time explaining what the goal of this trip was to those next to him. He showed them the electronic bug he had in his thigh pouch and described basically how it worked, or at least what Bentley had told him about how it worked, and how he was to place it in Longfellow's office in order to gain information. After that he was to quickly search the area for any signs of Penelope, and mark the locations of any security alarms, guards, and other points of interest before heading back.

"Approaching destination." Murray called back commandingly as he flicked a switch, killing all exterior lights on the van and illuminating the inside with a dim red overhead.

"Well time to go." Sly smirked as he stood up, grabbing his cane off the rack and casually walking to the back doors.

The van almost silently slowed to a stop, the back door popped open and out slipped the raccoon with a smug "See ya later." Leaving the door open as not to make any noise from it closing, Murray crept back up to speed and got out of the area.

Once far enough away, they pulled off the road and set up shop. The hippo tapped a few buttons, checked to make sure his antenna was properly extended, and swiveled his captain's chair around to face the rear of the van.

"Hey Judy, can you hit that white switch over on the right?"

Without a word, the rabbit tentatively approached the controls for the binocucom station. As illogical as it sounded, she figured if the screen never came on, then nothing like last night could happen again. Her thoughts and actions disconnected however as the click of the switch was heard, followed by the display slowly clearing up from static. Murray showed her the button to press to send the radio audio thought he van's speakers as well. Whatever went down that night, Judy and Nick were going to see and hear all of it.

"All set over here." Murray spoke into radio.

"Alright Sly, you are good to go." Bentley confirmed back.

Cooper's voice was the last one needed to get things moving. When it finally came through, the confidence in his tone was both reassuring and concerning at the same time. "Roger that, it's go time."

* * *

1:30 A.M.? Perfect time to work on my story! But seriously, if the last few lines of this chapter (or this author's note) are screwed up in any way it's because I actually wrote them at that time. It's okay though, the important bits at the beginning were actually written when I had some form of coherence to my thoughts. Why am I writing this so late? Because I'm actually going to be away for the rest of the week and if I didn't finish it now, you would have to wait even longer. (Sorry, the next chapter will be slightly delayed). Anyway, the break might be a good thing, I'd like to remind you all this story is tagged as mystery for a reason (Crazy tired nonsense ramblings, or actually story related, you'll never know!). But in all seriousness, thanks for reading and putting up with my antics, I really appreciate it. See you all in the next one.


	16. Chapter 15: Safe

"Bug has been placed." Sly's hushed voice projected from the van's speakers, as it had been every few minutes since the night's mission began. He had been busy, careful not to disturb the peace present in the cool nighttime air. Moving silently yet efficiently, the raccoon had infiltrated the compound undetected, and began to check off items on his long list of objectives to complete. Guard patrol patterns were noted, searchlight positions marked, and the main alarm relay was located. With the audio bug placed in the currently vacant office of Mr. Longfellow, only one task reminded, tracing any signs of their primary goal, Penelope.

Back in the relative comfort of the van, Nick, Judy, and Murray watched and listened while Cooper did his job. Though still slightly apprehensive, Judy found listening to the cool, smooth tone of the raccoon almost relaxing. No doubt this played to his advantage as a thief, the ability to calm someone through conversation alone had to be advantageous. The whole thing reminded her of Nick, and how he used a similar tactic when the two first met. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she realized how much he and Sly had in common. Everything from sense of humor to their shared laziness, the rabbit started to pick up on it once they spent some time with the quirky band of thieves.

The only thing Sly had that Nick lacked was his athletic ability. Though the fox had done remarkably well during his police academy training, Cooper had years of practice over him. Every time that binocucom video feed came on, he was in a different, often precarious location. Be it perched on top of a pole, balanced on a rope or wire, even hanging from the hook of his cane, they were all impressive, although Judy found herself repeatedly questioning how the laws of physics allowed such feats to be possible. Her partner on the other hand, looked on with a hint of envy buried behind his ever present grin. Nick had been thinking to himself, letting his daydreams get the better of him. When this was all over he planned to ask the raccoon for lessons, or at least some tips. High level heists were way cooler than street hustling after all, not that he would ever pull one off, not now at least.

"Signal received," Bentley's harsh nasally tone clashed against the suaveness that came before it, "great work Sly. Now, head on over to the main building, I may have determined a way to locate Penelope."

"Alright. Please tell me you didn't give her a tracking device disguised as a necklace."

"No… that design wasn't done yet… Just get over there."

Judy felt herself laughing along with Sly as she heard him climb out the window used to access the office and hop back onto the roof, which worried her. Had she spent so much time away from the rigors of the ZPD and the stoicism of Chief Bogo to the point where she found Nick level humor funny? Or worse, was she actually starting to bond with the Cooper gang? No, it couldn't be, she was just tired is all. Yeah, tired, too much stress, obviously she was just slipping into insanity. The rabbit tried to reason with herself, not wanting to admit that she was actually beginning to like the criminals around her. This whole thing was just one big mess.

"Okay, see that guard?" The turtle's voice came through again as the video feed zoomed in on a sleek arctic fox walking towards the main warehouse, "She is the head of security, and as such carries around a comprehensive file of paperwork detailing all of Longfellow's operations. If my hypothesis is correct, somewhere in those documents should be a handy list of everyone he has locked up, among other potentially useful things."

"And you want me to grab it to find out where they are holding Penelope." Sly could see exactly where this was going.

"Precisely, though it won't be easy, that paperwork never leaves her sight, and neither does her high powered shock pistol."

"Is anything we do ever easy?"

"With you around, no."

When the wisecracks subsided and the video feed cut out again, silence took up residency as Sly began to track his target. He waited and watched as the fox entered the warehouse through a doorway on the ground, before stealthily making his own foray into the building via a skylight. Inside, whatever horrors inhabited the space hid in darkness as only a few lights shown onto the many isles of crates and boxes that stretched on seemingly forever. The solid 'clacking' of boots on concrete echoed throughout, the telltale sign of one head of security making her rounds. Sticking to the rafters or the tops of stacked containers, Cooper stalked his prey, patiently waiting for the right moment to strike.

Ever so slowly the minutes ticked on, all the while Sly followed the fox, until she finally came to a stop next to a row of chest-high boxes to grab her radio.

"Tucker to base." Longfellow's head of security spoke in a gracefully soft tone, placing her paperwork on top on the crate next to her at the same time.

"Go ahead Tucker." The radio blurted back at her, acting as the perfect distraction for the raccoon carefully sneaking up behind his mark.

"Everything is set over here, any word from the boss?" She continued, Sly was now in position on the opposite side of the crate, the fox's back to him.

"The usual, 'continue operations as scheduled'." Her radio responded as Cooper made his move. A careful flick of his cane and the documents practically jumped into his waiting paws.

"Copy that. I'm heading ba-" Tucker turned around just in time to be staring directly into the eyes of the thief, mid-steal. Sly, knowing this predicament could only end one way, drooped his ears and put on a 'isn't this a coincidence, please don't kill me grin', watching the confusion build on his target's face. At the same time, he stuffed the list into his thigh pouch and moved his cane into position. Before the fox was able to grasp what was happening, he pounced. In one fluid movement, Cooper bounded over the crate and delivered a solid 'thwack' of the cane to his opponent. She didn't even hit the ground by the time the raccoon was out the door and climbing up a pipe to the roof.

"Looks like we're going to have to cut this one short." He called over the radio, forcing his voice to remain as calm as when he went in.

"Get out of there before they raise the alarm!" Bentley replied frantically. He was very quickly and very stressfully trying to rework their entire plan around this one incident.

"Way ahead of you. Hey Murray, I could use a lift."

"Roger, moving to extraction point A." The hippo called as the van speed back onto the road. The sudden jerk of movement caught Nick and Judy off guard, the two had been so focused on the drama unfolding that they didn't even hear him start the engine.

Within seconds Murray was on a street adjacent to the compound, maintaining a decently high rate of speed. Looking between the seats and out the front windshield, the two tag along cops saw Sly running towards them, on top of the telephone cables over the road. Even with the added stress of the scenario, the raccoon managed to finesse his acrobatic skills, making the tightrope act look easy.

"Uh, aren't we gonna slow down?!" Nick questioned nervously as the van continued to speed ahead, about to pass right by their target.

"Nope." Murray said with a grin, keeping his eyes on the road and flicking an overhead switch before accelerating even more.

Suddenly, a loud 'thud' was heard on the roof as the rear doors swung themselves open. In a stunt that must have been well practiced, Cooper effortlessly swung himself into the back of the van. Hitting the switch again, their driver automatically closed the doors and proceeded to take the crew back to the hideout.

The rumble of the van's engine droned on for a moment as everyone took in what had happened. Sly glanced at the paperwork in his hand, then to Nick and Judy who were sitting before him. The look on his face spoke for him, he understood what this unfortunate occurrence meant, and as his eyes diverted from the two, it showed he knew if there was anyone to blame it was him. The face of the rabbit in front of him had a similar expression, however Judy's was also apologetic. She could see that the mission was compromised, and felt bad for the gang who worked so hard, and had so much at stake, but at the end of the day all this meant to her was the ZPD could take over and finally finish this thing.

While his partner was lost in thought, Nick noticed Sly's eyes widen slightly as he took another look at the paperwork he had stolen. His view quickly darted to Judy and back before the raccoon stuffed the file into his pouch. He didn't know exactly what it meant, but the fox was decent at reading people, and that little move meant something was up. Cooper's body language after that only reinforced his suspicion. He appeared anxious, almost worried, a strange sight to see on the usually calm and confident thief.

"Thanks for picking me up Murray." Sly broke the silence that had gripped the van for too long. He noticed the visibly uncomfortable hippo glancing back every so often and decided to ease his friend's mind.

"The pleasure belongs solely to 'The Murray'," He cheerfully called back, "I'm always up for a good rescue."

"These two give you any trouble while I was out?" The raccoon brought himself back to normal, throwing on a smug grin as he poked fun at Nick and Judy.

"Not at all! It sure was nice having the company, reminds me of last time when we brought in all the help. Those guys were hilarious... weird, but hilarious. Oh hey that reminds me! We should all go out for ice cream sometime."

"That's the best idea I've heard all day." Judy commented lightly, a bit more relaxed now knowing this whole ordeal was about to come to a swift end.

The small talk continued the rest of the way back to the hideout, though the mood was slightly awkward considered what had just occurred. Still, laughs were had and the gang began planning a date to just hang out, no fights, lies or heists, just friends.

"Alright, how bad is it?" Sly asked as everyone entered the hideout a few minutes later. Nick had noticed his expression slowly revert back to one of nervousness as they approached the building, reinforcing his notion that something was off.

"For once I actually don't know." Bentley replied, his nasal voice greeting them with a tone of confusion.

"Did I hear that right?" Cooper strolled over to table, putting on a grin as he leaned against it to get a glimpse of the turtle huddled behind his barricade of monitors.

"Shocking, I know, but allow me explain. I've been monitoring Longfellow's compound since you left, and there are no signs that the alarm was ever raised."

"Are you sure you didn't accidentally hack it in your sleep?"

"Please, if I wanted to shut down their systems I'd have done it already. No, we left them up to avoid any suspicion. However that's not the only thing. I figured she simply hadn't woken up yet, though it was taking an awful long time for someone to realize the head of security was passed out on the floor. But get this, she's up and in the office right now! The same one we have a bug in!" The turtle cranked up a volume knob and the soft voice of an artic fox filled the room.

"No, I told you we can't let him know." Tucker was having a conversion with someone over the phone, using the empty office for privacy, "Yes I understand what it could be, but it's a matter of business. - - - . If he finds out, everything is going to stop, and we are set to take in a priority shipment tomorrow, not to mention sending out that insufferable mouse. - - - . I know he's not selling her, but she has been the single biggest security hazard I've ever seen."

"This has been going on for a while, I'm recording the whole thing." Bentley said as he turned the volume back down. "Basically she doesn't want to tell someone, presumably Longfellow, about the incident, so that's good news for us. However I need to finish up this revised plan fast, our window of opportunity has been drastically shortened."

"Speaking of that…" Sly said uncertainly, hushing his voice before throwing a glance back at Nick and Judy, who had taken a seat on the couch and were busy chatting with Murray. "It might be shorter than we thought."

From the corner of his eye, Nick watched as the two whispered back and forth before Bentley followed the raccoon to the hall and into another room. His suspicions grew with every second that passed, if whatever was going on was worth hiding then it had to be big. The question was how big. He had no intention of waiting to find out though. The moment they reemerged, the fox broke away from his current conversation. As he walked the short distance over to the pair, their expressions brought up concern. Sly had his act going, covering whatever he was thinking with a resting smirk. Bentley on the other hand was far easier to read, his arms trembled slightly as he wheeled himself back to his computers, a dead giveaway he was nervous.

"Okay, what's up?" Nick got straight to the point, directing his seriousness to the turtle as he was bound to break easier than Sly would.

"Not our chances of finding Penelope, that's for sure." Cooper laughed casually, pulling the attention away from Bentley, whose only response was an undecided stare.

"Why's that?"

"Well, there was this whole thing were I screwed up and kind of blew our cover."

"I know that, and might I say it was a spectacular failure, but I'm talking about after that. In the van you saw something in that paperwork, I'm assuming that's what you two just discussed in private. Now, whatever that is seems to have both of you spooked, and if it can do that then it's important, and also something that I would appreciate knowing." Sly's grin disappeared as Nick went on, though he was impressed at the cop's observational abilities.

"Listen, yes it's important, but it's also important that you don't know. As a matter of safety, for everyone."

"Safety?"

"Yes, safety... it also might be a good idea if you and Judy stay with us for the night."

"Ooooooooh no, what's going on? You can't just say something like that without an explanation."

"Everything good over here?" Judy had heard the distress in the conversation, worry spreading through her voice and expression as she joined the group at the table.

"No, it's not carrots. Something's up and we are being kept in the dark, for 'safety'."

"All I'm saying is that you two might want to spend the night here, just to be safe, we'll have everything figured out in the morning." Sly appealed to the growing dismay before him.

"We found something in the paperwork." Bentley sighed, composing himself to deliver the news as calmly as he could, "The file of papers Sly grabbed off the head of security contained a schedule of operations."

Cooper let out a similar sigh before pulling the stack of papers out of his leg pouch, handing them to the turtle next to him as he sat down. He motioned for Nick and Judy to do the same, there was nothing he could do about it now.

"Thank you." Bentley began looking through the paperwork, "This schedule outlines everything Longfellow has planned for the entire week. One item set to take place tomorrow has us extremely concerned. A delivery marked as priority, for a mammal, a rabbit to be exact," He slid the paper in question onto the table, where Nick was the first to see it. The words were there, clear as day, but it wasn't until they were spoken out loud that either him or his partner could process what they truly meant. "by the name of Judith L. Hopps."

* * *

I'm back. Sorry this chapter took so long, I hope it was worth the wait. Well, a lot has happened in the past few weeks, I had my birthday, started up school again, and went to a Zootopia meetup. Actually I hosted the meetup, where I got to meet a user by the name of MaveriKat. He has been following this story for a long time and is one of the people who's feedback convinced me to really commit to writing this. Now he is also an author, writer of the incredible 'Fox Point', which is a Sly/Zootopia crossover as well, but on steroids. Seriously, if you haven't already heard of it, go check it out, you'll see what I mean. It's an honor to know that my writing was the inspiration for him to start his own story, considering I was inspired to write by another user to begin with. So a big thank you to MaveriKat for reading (and for the t-shirt, it's awesome) and to all of you as well, I may procrastinate writing... a lot... but I make it a point to keep going because of all of you and the wonderful support you have shown this story. Thank you all, the next chapter will be up much quicker, I promise.


	17. Chapter 16: The Best Laid Plans

Judith L. Hopps, she never did like hearing her full name. It was usually followed by a long winded lecture from her parents about how she 'had them worried sick'. Back then all she wanted to do was help, standing up against a bully, helping rescue a friend stuck in a tree, whatever the young rabbit could do, she did. Of course that typically ended up with her wondering away from her family, often times returning with a few scrapes or bruises. The response was always the same, a quick hug from her mom, glad she was alright, then a scolding about how she should give up on her dreams to become a police officer. Her parents were just trying to keep her safe, teaching her not to take unnecessary risks, but Judy learned a different lesson from their sternness. Through the years, she learned persistence, she leaned not to give up.

Whenever her parents called out that name, it was reinforcement. Letting the determined rabbit know she was actually doing something, little by little making a change. The last time Judy heard someone use her full name was at her graduation from the police academy. When she received her badge, she knew all those years of reprimand and determination payed off. She worked hard to make a difference, and achieved that goal.

Hearing her full name used once again in that cramped hideout, brought Judy right back to those days of being reprimanded by her parents. She worked incredibly hard to become a cop, and even harder to prove herself as one. Now, it seemed someone out there was trying to punish her for it. At that moment, only one thought lingered in the rabbit's mind, persistence. She would never give up.

"Okay," Judy took a deep breath, drawing all attention to her as she attempted to compose herself, "Here is what's going to happen. Bentley, I want you to look through this paperwork, get me any information you can. About their operation, how it involves me, anything. Sly, start thinking up risk assessment, you witnessed what they do first hand, how much danger am I… are any of us in? Murray, can you please pack up the van and plot a route to the ZPD station in Savanna Central. And Nick…"

The rabbit trailed off as she turned to her partner. Nick was sitting there, staring blankly at the paper still sitting on the table in front of them. He was spaced out, contemplating something, evident by the way he slowly fidgeted with his paws. Judy was going to try to get his attention until she realized no one at the table had moved an inch at her instructions. Except for Murray, who jumped up in excitement when his name was called, before slowly sitting back down again.

"Judy…" Sly spoke to the staggered cop in as comforting of a tone as he could manage, "I know you want this taken care of quickly, I absolutely understand that, but right now you are safest with us. Give us a few minutes, we'll go over what we know, see if we can figure out what their plan is, and then come up with a plan of our own."

At a loss for words, Judy turned to Nick for support. The fox was still gazing down, keeping himself out of the issue unfolding next to him.

"Nick?" The urgency of her voice mere moments before was gone, replaced with the soft touch of comfort and concern over his well-being.

With his head still pointed firmly down, Nick slowly lifted a paw, bringing it up to his face. It held there for a moment as if to form a physical barrier between them before gliding backwards, combing through his matted red fur. Tugging his ear down behind his head, he turned away.

"I…" The fox spoke quietly, exhaling deeply before facing Judy, still avoiding eye contact, "I think I have to agree with Sly on this one…"

"What?" She tried to hold herself, but the disdain in the cop's voice forced its way through.

"Let's take some time to figure out the situation before doing anything."

"Take some- Figure out- Nick, are you serious?! We need to get this to the ZPD right now, you've seen what they do, and I'm their next target! We don't have time to wait around and 'figure things out'!"

"I don't know what to do!" The table shook as Nick slammed his paw against it, shooting out of his chair and looking Judy in the eye. Within an instant, her face jumped from anger to fear to understanding, the stress had gotten to him, the stress of worrying about her. "I don't know what to do…"

Realizing the violence of his action, the fox quickly calmed himself, breaking eye contact and sitting back down. "I'm so sorry. It's just… I can't lose you…"

"No, you're right." Judy placed a paw on her partner's shoulder, which he quickly shook off.

"Well, on that note," Nick tried his best to maintain his trademark tone, "what do ya say we get to work? You can all think of a plan, and I'll go sit over there before Sly hurts me."

Attention shifted to the raccoon who was still standing, he had gotten in position to hop the table once the fox jumped out of his seat. Slightly embarrassed, Cooper shrugged it off with a grin. As he sat back down, Nick excused himself, heading off to the other side of the room.

"Is he okay?" Sly commented, finding his guest's reaction understandable, if a bit over dramatic.

"No, no he's not." Judy replied, her tone wavering on disappointment, "But there's nothing we can do about it. He's going to need some time alone, the stress is getting to him, and I'm afraid we aren't helping."

She was right, Nick needed some time away from everyone, but stress was not the only reason. He needed to figure himself out. This whole situation was eating away at him, he was caught right in the middle of who he was and who he is. When the two clashed, even briefly, he let his emotions slip. If things got worse, and he was forced to choose… he knew there was only one obvious way to go.

"How ya doing?" Murray's impossible to hate voice proceeded the pink ball of joy, who had wandered over to check on Nick, "I know how you feel, sometimes I need to get away from the rest of the gang for a while. Bentley's fancy computer talk and Sly's smart remarks can get me worked up sometimes. My old guru taught me some sweet meditation techniques. He said to relax and think of all the good times we've had. 'Never let a single thorn ruin the rose', or something like that, it was hard to make out what he was saying sometimes."

"Hey, thanks Murray." Nick looked to the blissful, smiling hippo beside him. He never expected him to be a source of life lessons, but then again he never thought a rabbit could be a cop, or that he would be one too. The thought manifested itself as a subtle grin of his own.

"Yeah, or I go smash some faces in!"

With that, the grin turned into a genuine laugh. Murray seemed like the type of mammal who could make anyone smile. How he ended up as the enforcer for a gang of criminals Nick did not know, but at that moment he was glad he was. As the laughs faded back to silence, the two heard Judy talking with Sly back at the table and decided to join her.

"-zootopia's extradition laws would prevent any actions taken by Interpol, so-" The rabbit paused her explanation to Sly once she noticed her partner approaching, "Nick! Listen, I'm sorry, it's just all-"

"Don't worry about it, fluff." He interrupted her, not wanting to bring up the same topic again, "Besides, I should be the one apologizing… What was I thinking leaving you with Rocky Raccoon here?"

Sly ignored the jab, watching as Nick gave Judy a rather rough rub on the head. The banter he had witnessed the two officers shoot back and forth since they met was still there, though it felt forced. A vain attempt to cover the stresses the two were both under, especially now with one of their lives on the line.

"Before you so rudely interrupted me," A halfhearted, sarcastic glare was sent from one cop to the other, "I was explaining to Sly the ZPD's protocol for witness protection."

"Ahhhh, you think Bogo would grant them immunity for providing the information? Especially with Interpol breathing down his neck?"

"He'd have to, and once that's taken care of, Interpol wouldn't be able to touch them."

"I hate to break it to you," Sly butted in, "but Carmelita doesn't work that way. If she found out I'm here, absolutely nothing would stop her from taking me in. Especially now, she'd declare war before letting me walk."

"And we'd go to war right back to protect you." Judy insisted, confident in the ZPD's ability to uphold the laws.

"As wonderful as having the police on my side for once would be, I'd like to hear other options."

"I pretty sure anything other than that ends up with you in jail."

"At least then I'd still be breathing."

"Actually, there may be a third option." Bentley's voice caught the group by surprise. He had been buried behind his computer the whole time, going through the files from earlier, "Through my review of this data, which was greatly accelerated to ease the time restraints imposed mind you, I believe we have all the information needed to execute an operation which would not only prevent Longfellow from continuing his 'business', but would let us rescue Penelope as well!"

"You found her?!" Cooper enthusiastically called back.

"It's right here!" The turtle pointed out a line on one of the inventory manifests, reading it aloud, "She's being held in cell 1-15, scheduled for transfer tomorrow night. It doesn't affect the timetable we already had, but I think I can have the plan finalized in an hour or two."

"Great! Let's aim to step off just before dawn."

"I'm sorry, what?" Judy commented, slightly confused, hoping she misheard something.

"Good news," Sly replied cheerily, "there's no need to go to the ZPD, we'll be handling the whole thing! Bentley's getting the heist plans finished right now."

"Indeed," Bentley remarked, "and you two might be crucial in helping pull it off."

"No offense, but that's not going to happen. You guys are great at doing whatever it is you do, but this is personal now, and I need to take it to the ZPD."

"I can respect that," Cooper replied empathetically, "but our goal here is still rescuing Penelope. Unless the ZPD can guarantee she will be saved and released to us, we don't have another choice."

"We'd have to talk to Bogo about it, which would take time."

"Time that we don't have."

"Hey, guys?" Murray's voice attempted to break into the conversations, quickly dismissed by Judy's however.

"What do you think Nick? Any bright ideas?"

"Guys?" A second try, making as little progress as the first.

"I mean, working an actual heist sounds awesome… but I would feel safer with the station backing us."

"THE MURRAY HAS A SUGGESTION." The hippo's voice thundered, his tone remained loveable, but had an intense presence to it.

"What's up big guy?" Sly acknowledge him with a smile.

"Why don't Nick and Judy go get the rest of the police while we run in and grab Penelope, then they can make the arrest after we're out."

The entire room sat pondering for a moment, the plan made a surprising amount of sense.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Bentley was the first to recognize the practicality of the idea.

"The timing would have to be perfect, but I think we could make that work." Sly too liked the concept, "What do you two think?"

"Bogo wouldn't be happy if we kept our source private…" Judy thought for a minute.

"Bogo's never happy with anything we do." Her partner pointed out, half joking.

"True… If you can grab Penelope without causing too much of a scene we should be able to clean it up nicely."

"Not causing scenes is what I do best." Cooper commented smugly.

A few minutes later and the plan was set. Judy and Nick were to return to the ZPD overnight, giving the information they had on Longfellow to Bogo. During that time, Cooper and his gang would work out the details of their heist. Around dawn, Sly's portion of the operation begins, where they break in to the compound and secure Penelope. While they are underway, Bogo would be getting the proper warrants and organizing a task force to arrest the giraffe. The trio of thieves would have a strict time limit, they needed to clear the area no later than 7:00 am. Nick and Judy would have no way of knowing if their objective was completed in time or not, but it was a risk the gang said they were willing to take. Besides, they had outrun plenty of cops before, so if they happen to get caught up it would just 'add to the fun' as Sly put it.

With the clock creeping past two in the morning, Murray started up the van and the rest of the group took a walk outside. Off in the distance, the lights of downtown cast their glow over the rolling dunes. It was quite a sight, one that they all took an extra few seconds to admire. From the pillars of light that were the city's skyscrapers to the neon glow radiating from signs lining nearly every side street, Zootopia at night was purely breathtaking. The moment was bittersweet though, depending on how things went in the morning, this could be the last time the two sides saw each other. No goodbyes were said however, only 'good luck'.

"Seeya later." Sly said softly as Nick and Judy climbed into the back of the van.

"Hey, make sure there's someone left for us to arrest when we get there." Nick smirked, making sure he got in one last quip. His partner gave a quick wave before the doors were shut.

Murray hopped up front while Sly and Bentley headed back inside, needing to get ready for the day ahead. The trip back to the station was mostly quiet. Occasionally their driver would attempt to lighten the mood, but was meet with lackluster responses. Nick and Judy were not in the mood for discussion, as much as it would help. The two were trying to mentally prepare themselves for whatever was going to happen in the few hours.

It was not long before they came upon the familiar road housing the ZPD headquarters. The van stopped just short of the station, leaving the two to walk a few hundred feet. A quick thanks and brief farewells were given all around as they exited though the side door. After a moment, during which it appeared Murray was trying to bring himself to say some final thought, the hippo simply gave a nod before driving away. The two cops watched as the eccentric blue van that started it all disappeared into the night. Just like that, they were alone.

The walk over to the station, however short, was unnerving nonetheless. Nights were typically quiet there, the staff on duty was minimal for the graveyard shift, usually only one dispatcher and a pair of officers. But that meant safety for Judy, who was clutching onto an envelope containing their information on the case, and the ability to contact the chief. The two entered through the front door into the quiet lobby. They were surprised to find the reception desk, where the dispatcher or one officer usually resided, empty.

"Uh… Anyone home?" Nick called out hesitantly, his voice echoing out into the darkened halls. He was answered by the sound of paws scampering across the tiled floor of the station.

"He-Hello?" A familiar, if not tired, voice called back from above.

The pair looked up to see a weasel poking his head over the second floor railing.

"Winthrop? What are you doing here so late?" Judy thought out loud.

"I could ask you the same thing." The Interpol constable replied in a lighthearted tone, "Nah, I had some extra paperwork to finish up so I decided to stay the night here, it's way quieter than the hotel Carmelita has everyone staying in."

"Who's on duty tonight?" Nick questioned, slightly concerned at the lack of ZPD officers.

"Beats me, I haven't seen anyone since I came up here to get some sleep."

"Right, well we need to contact the chief, it's a bit of an emergency." The fox explained as he walked towards the reception desk, picking up one of the radios stored on it.

"Is everything okay?" Winthrop asked, beginning to make his way down the stairs to meet the officers.

"It's a ZPD issue," Judy answered, following her partner, who tuned the radio to Bogo's emergency frequency, "we'll be okay."

"Wilde to Bogo. Wilde to Bogo. Wilde to Bogo." Nick transmitted the alert, awaiting a response.

"You're paging an emergency channel at two thirty in the morning, that doesn't sound okay to me." The weasel voiced his concern as he approached the desk as well.

"Don't worry about it, it's not an Interpol problem." She insisted.

"Wilde to Bogo. Come in Chief Bogo."

"I don't care about Interpol, I'm asking as a friend, what's wrong?"

"Officer Wilde paging Chief Bogo. Final Call."

"Let's just say I'm in a bit of danger." The rabbit let out minimal information.

"What kind of danger?"

"I can't get him over the radio." Nick called to his partner, "I'm gonna see who else is here."

"Okay." Judy acknowledged, placing the envelope she had been carrying onto the desk, "And you, the kind of danger that requires calling the chief at two in the morning."

"All officers on duty, report to the front desk immediately." The intercom blared throughout the station as the cop called for whatever help was available in house.

"That doesn't help." Winthrop said, hoping to get a better explanation.

"Where is everyone?" Nick wondered to no one in particular. An all-call like that usually resulted in a stampede of officers running to the lobby. Even at night, there should be at least one mammal responding.

"Something's wrong…" Judy heightened her senses as she realized things were not adding up.

As if on cue, a pair of headlights slowly illuminated the street outside. The rumble of an engine grew louder as the vehicle drew closer to the station. All three mammals inside directed their attention through the glass doors in nervous anticipation. A large white box truck eased to a halt right outside.

"That would be the danger."

* * *

Note to self: Stop making promises. Sorry its been taking a while to get these updates out. We are nearing the end of the story now (Wow, I can barely believe it!) and I have to be extra careful not to screw up any of the plot points I've started, so it is taking a bit longer to get everything how I like it. Anyway, enough of that, lets talk about the story. Yes it really is almost over, but what twists and turns will it take before we get there? If you have any crazy conspiracy theories I would love to hear them, see if you guys have figured it out ;) Next chapter will be up whenever it's finished, not setting a deadline but expect a quicker update. As always, thanks for reading, you are all awesome.

* * *

 _-Times change_

 _-Pasts remain_

 _-Hopps is the key_


	18. Chapter 17: Often Go Awry

"Hang on Snarlof." Chief Bogo interrupted his officer, listening intently to the static blaring out of the radio on his belt. It was a harsh tone, deafening the quiet alley, though it had a certain rhythm to it. A steady rise and fall, as if it was breathing. The imposing buffalo cocked his head slightly, raising the volume at the same time. He had to mentally push himself to focus on the sounds, still not fully awake, but noticeably grumpy.

Everyone heard it at about the same time, in between the gentle oscillations of the transmissions, barely distinguishable to the untrained ear, were faint fractions of words.

"…go…Come in…ief…"

"Isn't that your priority channel?" Snarlof questioned, breaking the silent concentration of the mammals around him. A quick, harsh shushing from his superior shut him up.

"…Wild…pagin…ast call…"

"Wilde?" Fangmeyer wondered out loud, resulting in a similar treatment.

Bogo looked around, taking in the scene as he processed the information. Something about that static was familiar, the constant wave like tone, it did not sit right with him. Eventually the chief's eyes settled upon a young wombat conversing with a sheep a few feet away. On any normal night, the little fellow would have been behind the dispatcher's desk at the station. Tonight, however, Charles was taking a statement from a hysterical sheep, or at least he was trying to.

About twenty minutes earlier, the ZPD received a call from the very same frantic mammal. He was concerned about a large, unmarked box truck that appeared to be following him through the desolate city streets. Fangmeyer and Snarlof were sent out to make sure the frightened ram was okay. They found him taking shelter in that alley, staying out of sight only a block away from the station.

When a call comes in at two in the morning, officers have to be ready for anything, but the response the two ZPD veterans received upon making contact with the panicked sheep caught them off guard. The victim, who appeared excessively paranoid, refused any help from cops, barely even giving out his name, Shaun. Instead he began complaining about how they sent a tiger and a polar bear, a couple of 'dirty predators' to harass him. As hard as the two tried to help, he was insistent on only speaking to another prey animal. It seemed not everyone was fond of the changes the city was going through.

Thinking on the fly, Fangmeyer called in the only prey officer available, their dispatcher Charles. As the wombat swapped his setup, forwarding emergency calls to a mobile headset to take with him, he followed protocol, albeit reluctantly, and woke up the chief to notify him of the situation. A few minutes later and there everyone was, a rightfully irritated Bogo wearing some jeans whatever white t-shirt he had laying around, getting brought up to speed while wondering how much coffee he was going to need that day, and Shaun being taken care of by an officer whose job description mentioned nothing about interviewing lunatics at two in the morning.

The radio static abruptly went silent just as Chief Bogo realized why he recognized the tone.

"Who's at the station?!" The imposing buffalo barked sharply, quickly retrieving the radio from his duty belt, the only actual police kit he had on him, and adjusting the frequency.

"Uh... that weasel from Interpol, he was doing some research. But we let him know we were gone." Snarlof replied, rushing an excuse in hopes he would not get yelled at for leaving the station.

"This is Bogo, all units this net, respond, over." The all-call went out, but nobody heard it, not even the two officers directly in front of him. All they heard was the same wavy static from before.

"I knew it," The chief muttered, hastily putting his radio back before taking command, "Let's go, everyone back to the station right now!"

"Sir, what's going on?" Fangmeyer asked, as they rushed to the end of the alley, passing by the confused pair of prey.

"Someone's jamming our radios."

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

A high pitched tone went off just as the group got to the main road. It was being emitted from a small pager every officer carried on them, a secondary communications system reserved for very special emergencies. Bogo did not even have to look at his to know what was happening.

"It's the station's alarm! Double time it!"

Turning right out of the alley, the ZPD building was visible only a few hundred feet down, as well as the white box truck parked out front. With adrenaline pumping, they all entered into a full sprint to make it back. Only halfway to their target, the truck flipped on its lights, pulled a U-turn and screeched its way down the road.

"Snarlof, after him!"

Without hesitation, the polar bear switched directions and dashed back to the cruiser used to respond to the first call, sitting by the alley. A moment later he roared past, following the direction of the truck.

As Bogo and Fangmeyer reached the station, they drew their weapons, having to be ready for whatever might be going on inside. The chief led the breach, ready to use lethal force if necessary. Training took over every movement as the two headed carefully into the lobby, greeted by nothing more than the echoes of their own footsteps. Most of the building stood in darkness, the only light coming from the dim yellowed street lamps outside. With a solid 'click', the tiger's flashlight cast out a beam, feeling its own way through the darkened halls.

Cautiously, the pair continued forward, approaching the eerily empty front desk. The soft squeaking of a door caught their attention, Fangmeyer whipped around, bringing the muzzle of his tranq gun directly to the face of a very terrified wombat.

"AHHHIMM on your side!" Charles burst out while trying to shield himself.

"Calm down Fangmeyer," Bogo sighed as he flipped a switch behind the desk, bringing up the lights, "there's no one here."

The tiger quickly lowered his weapon, much to the delight of his dispatcher, but without falling into a sense of safety just yet. To be completely sure, he performed a quick sweep of the lobby while the chief took a good look at the front desk. Someone had triggered the silent alarm located on it, but looking at the display of security cameras showed that there were no other mammals in the building.

"All clear." Fangmeyer called as he came back around to the chief.

"Good." Bogo responded, starting to devise their next move.

While the trio stood there unsure just what to make of the situation, sirens could be heard approaching outside. One car pulled up, then two, not police cruisers, but personal vehicles with lights and sirens, off duty cops coming in blind to a department wide alarm. Slowly but surely, every able bodied officer made their way to the station, ready to aid no matter the situation. With no information provided about the emergency, these first responders sat confused and exposed, spread throughout the street and parking lot.

"Charles," The chief moved to get things organized, "get me the security footage, I want to know exactly what happened here."

The dispatcher immediately got to work at the desk's computer, Bogo stood up to meet the officers out front. This type of situation was trained for, but had not been executed in a long time. Every member of the ZPD knew what they were supposed to do, but the lack of communication and heightened nerves made their effects known on each officer's face as they arrived to the scene. This kind of structured chaos required a cool and confident chief to brings things to any semblance of order. Whatever trivial annoyances plagued the buffalo earlier that night vanished as he stepped out the station doors.

Not wanting to waste any time, the chief gathered everyone in the parking lot and ran through the details. From there, the officers were organized into groups, a few of the veterans were tasked with finding and supporting Snarlof, while the rest split up to secure the area around the station and perform a thorough sweep of the building's interior. Fangmeyer was put in charge of the exterior unit, briefing anyone else that came in afterwards.

"Uh chief, you might want to take a look at this." Charles's voice was heard just as things got moving outside, much to Bogo's surprise though, it was through his radio.

"Fangmeyer," the buffalo called to the cop a few feet away, "radios are up, see if you can contact Snarlof."

"Yes sir!" the reply was heard as the chief made his way back into the station.

"So, the radio is working." Charles commented, noting how his message got through, only because he was too lazy to actually get up and walk outside.

"It would seem so," Bogo said, walking back behind the desk, "Odds are that jammer was inside the truck, which means Snarlof is probably still within its range."

"Uh huh, that's great and all, but right now we have bigger problems than Snarlof's radio." The wombat directed attention towards a monitor displaying the security footage.

They both watched as the video began to play. Nick and Judy entering the empty lobby, talking with Winthrop, trying the radio, the truck pulling up outside, it was all caught on multiple cameras. The part that had Charles concerned was a moment later. The Interpol weasel seemed to say something to Nick and Judy before taking off towards the back of the station, leaving the two officers alone. Unfortunately there was no audio to the recording, so whatever he said remained unknown, but neither parties liked it either way. From there, the lone cops gave each other fearful looks while slowly backing their way towards the desk. Nick glanced to his left, mouthing something to his partner at the same time. A second later the fox jumped over the front desk, hit the alarm, and the pair bolted out of frame. Not far behind, two rather unfriendly mammals followed after them.

Switching camera angles on the computer continued the view of the chase. The cops managed to increase their lead as they went, gaining precious seconds on the armadillo and panda behind them, an unusual pairing to say the least. The mad dash continued down a side hall leading out to the station's garage. Nick and Judy sprinted through and kept going, leaving the building grounds entirely, falling out of view of the last camera.

Strangely, as soon as they saw this, the two giving chase seemed to just give up. They stood in the garage for a moment, looking on as their intended targets disappeared into the night. This pause gave Bogo a good look at the assailants, everything about them appeared fairly normal, except for a set of black collars resting snugly around both of their necks. Suddenly, a green light blinked on the bands and the two ran back to their truck. Their lights kicked on and a U-turn led them barreling down the road. Seconds later, the chief came into view on the video, his group was only a block away when the whole ordeal in the station went down.

"Hang on, go back to that one." Bogo said after scanning the various vantage points the security system had, pointing to one of the views on the display. Even though the near miss had him more than a little irked, he knew if he wanted to find his two officers, all attention needed to be on the investigation.

Charles brought up the camera, went back thirty seconds and hit play. The monitor showed outside of the station's garage, facing the road and a few buildings across the street. As the clip progressed, Judy and Nick could be seen running past, brushing in and out of sight in a blur of motion. The wombat stopped the video to go back to the start of the action, but was interrupted.

"Keep going." The chief said firmly, focused intently on the screen.

Resuming showed a practically static image, nothing but an empty nighttime road, everything of importance happening elsewhere out of view.

"Right there! Go back!" Bogo reached forward, taking over control of the computer, running the video back one second. Advancing through frame by frame, the buffalo found exactly what was after, the not so obvious clues that he knew to look out for. Reflected in the windows of one of the buildings quite clearly was a white box truck. He checked the timestamp on the recording before letting out an angry grunt.

"Alright... Whats so special about a mirror?" Charles questioned uneasily.

"It's not the same one." The answer came out under his breath, barely even paying attention to the now lost dispatcher.

Looking back at the other cameras' views of the same time revealed this occurred while the group of cops were clearing the empty station, meaning the original vehicle was long gone by that point.

"Must've been parked out on some side street, right in our blind spot. Waited for us to take the bait then took off in the other direction. The same way Hopps ran off…" Bogo started pacing, mumbling to himself, each sentence sounding more annoyed than the last.

"So, uh, what exactly does that mean?"

"It means we've been played!" The chief stared down the poor mammal, "Whoever set this up knew we wouldn't be looking, knew we'd fall for the bait. Now I've got one officer chasing an empty box, and a dozen more trying to find him. I could be sending them straight into a trap for all I know!" His hoof slammed down onto the desk, "They dangled a carrot on a string and we ran straight for it!"

Bogo closed his eyes and let out a sigh, trying his best to relax, the mental stress mixed with a lack of sleep were not helping his condition.

"Call up the cars that just went out, make sure they understand the situation, and try to keep things organized radio wise. I have to find out where in the world Hopps and Wilde might be right now." The tough, commanding tone characteristic of the buffalo had faded, a rare state for the grizzled cop. Instead it was replaced with a soft, almost defeated sound, matching his now slumped stature.

Staring blankly at the desk below him, the chief noticed a small folder sitting only a few inches from where his hoof was resting. Curiosity persuaded him to open it up. Inside was a stack of seemingly irrelevant paperwork, shipment invoices, staff scheduling, and inventory manifests. Bogo was ready to dismiss it until he noticed a name stick out from the rest. Immediately he straightened up, rapidly flipping through sheet after sheet, looking for details, anything that could explain why Judy Hopps was listed under 'inventory'.

"Where did this come from?" With authority, Bogo questioned from behind the open file.

"Beats me." Charles responded, unaware of the document's significance.

"There." Chief Bogo turned to leave, having located an address for the company named in the paperwork, "Find out where this came from, radio me when you do. I have to go."

The young wombat watched as the chief of police hurriedly made his way out of the station, leaving him without any explanation. He didn't question it, simply getting to the work assigned. The night had already been strange enough as it was.

Outside, Bogo gave a few brief commands, instructing anyone who did not want to have their heads mounted over his fireplace the next day was to gear up and follow him. Immediately, the building became a frenzy of activity. Every officer not left as security ran inside, equipment was handed out, keys were issued, and two more dispatchers set up at their own computers, beginning to get things organized. The commotion flowed into the garage, until squad car after squad car raced down the road. Just like that, the ZPD station was brought to life. The fact that it was the middle of the night meant nothing to everyone there, phone calls were made, proper communication formed, information sent out, soon the place would be command central for the operation. As the red and blue lights of the last stragglers flashed into the distance, the chief came over the radio.

"Alright everyone, listen up. This is a high priority search and rescue. Officers Hopps and Wilde are MIA, possibly related to their most recent case. We have a lead on a location, but here's the deal… Whoever is behind this knows what they are doing. Odds are we are heading for a very dangerous situation. When we arrive on scene, look to me for direction. I want a rally point set up just outside the property, headcount and final prep will be made there. There is a chance we will lose radio contact, so I'm going to say this now: I do not want any one of you to be a hero tonight, we go in, do our job and come out, all of us. Heads up. Stay alert. And leave no mammal behind."

* * *

THINGS! EXCITEMENT! EXPLOSIONS! Okay, no explosions, but stuff is happening. In fact we are closing in on the end, only two or three chapters left to go. I'm not sure how well this chapter will go over, there is a lot going on in a very specific manner. If you don't understand something, please let me know. Timing wise, I know I suck at getting things done in a reasonable time frame (no excuses) but at least I'm getting them done at all. As far as the mystery aspect goes... I just want to say taking a look back never hurts, every chapter has its secrets ;)

Thank you all for putting up with my terrible upload schedule (or lack thereof) and more importantly thanks for reading. As always, I will see you in the next chapter.

* * *

disp item={(Message)} lang="en"

div /codebreak 'caesar'

div item=(Password) /item

rep = "*****"

item=[KEY]

**DISPLAY MESSAGE**

-ENCRYPTION KEY REQUIRED-

Ektaqkhi Jajl #1654

Tl: Ilkcbaiilw, Dakqy

Bqlj: [QASHPTAS]

Ruo: Qa: Rapueqty

Dakqy, rlja lb yluq plkpaqkr dhva oaak oqlucdt tl jy httaktelk qapaktiy. Hchek, E jurt qahrruqa ylu avaqytdekc er mqlpaasekc hr mihkkas. Ek bhpt, E rdluis plkcqhtuihta ylu lk h beka flo gaamekc ur lk rpdasuia. Kavaqtdaiarr, E dhva sluoias tda rapuqety ouscat, ylu hqa bqaa tl ura tdht jlkay tl hssqarr hky mqloiajr.

Rmahgekc lb tda rpdasuia, wa hqa dahsekc ektl tda bekhi mdhra lb lmaqhtelkr, rl qajajoaq tl jhga tda mqamhqhtelkr. Samaksekc lk dlw nuepgiy tdekcr jlva bqlj daqa, tder jhy oa jy ihrt jarrhca tl ylu. Rdluis tdht oa tda phra, E whkt tl tdhkg ylu blq hii tda daim, hks werd ylu tda oart lb iupg wetd yluq butuqa aksahvlqr.

\- [QASHPTAS]

-END ENCRYPTION-

**END MESSAGE**


	19. Chapter 18: A Twisted Tail - Part 1

_Knock Knock Knock_

3:27 AM, the cheap digital clock displayed in faded red numbering. Years of abuse sitting on that nightstand were prevalent in the condition of the outdated timepiece. Dings and scratches marred the once shiny black plastic exterior, smudges and cracks rendered the screen nearly unreadable, and buttons that had lost their functionality a long time ago. Any sensible mammal would have it replaced immediately, yet there it was, still ticking away.

'One little flick of the paw…' The individual lying in bed next to the clock thought as she stared into the unwavering red glow, 'One swipe and that thing hits the floor.'

Seeing the demise of what had been tormenting her every morning for the past week seemed especially appealing right now. Sleep was a precious commodity to begin with, so waking up in the middle of the night really rubbed her the wrong way.

 _Knock Knock Knock_

The sound took a few seconds to process. This was not the clock's fault, it would be spared for now. The same could not be said for the jerk banging on the door at such a ridiculous hour.

Reaching over to the wall, she flicked on a small light, wincing as her eyes struggled to adjust. The sudden brightness sent a shock that aided in warming up the brain, but she was far from awake. Now fully sitting up, a quick look around the room got her bearings. The whole place matched the state of the alarm clock. Dull, broken, and in desperate need of renovation. But that is just what comes with a cheap hotel room.

Rubbing one eye with her paw, she let out a deep yawn. Another glance at the clock and the reality of what time it was struck the rightfully grumpy mammal. Expletives spewed under her breath while she slid to the edge of the bed, which felt infinitely comfier than it did when she first lay in it several days prior. Slowly, she stood up, turning towards the only door leading in or out of the cramped space.

 _Knock Knock Knock_

Again the noise came, but this time with considerable force. Whoever was waiting outside seemed determined, leading to the concern of the single occupant. Her gaze shifted from the door back to the small bedside table. The clock sat unfazed, time continuing to tick on, but the focus lay upon what rested next to it. The polished surfaces reflected brilliantly what little light shown upon it, contrasting heavily against the dilapidated status of every other belonging in that neglected room, sat a bright red shock pistol. Unmistakable in appearance, the model had been popular with law enforcement for a while, before being phased out in favor of more 'practical' options. Only a few individuals still owned the piece, mostly as collector's items. Seeing as they were duty weapons, the majority of surviving examples showed good amounts of wear and tear. The shining specimen laying on that dusty side table would certainly be a prized part of any collection, but its owner had other uses in mind. Maintained with the utmost care since it was first issued, that specific shock pistol was the last known one still in active service.

The tired mammal reached down and picked up her weapon, her paw feeling right at home holding the stippled grips. One small switch and the piece powered on, a soft blue glow emitting from under the golden muzzle shroud. It remained at her side as she walked the short few steps to the hotel room door. Why someone was out there at three in the morning, she did not know, but she had to be prepared.

Placing her eye up to the peephole answered several questions, but brought up a whole lot more. One thing was for sure though, she was not in any danger. A solid 'thud' emanated as the deadbolt unlocked, announcing to the two officers outside they had succeeded in waking her. The door squeaked as it opened, Carmelita stood there in her pajamas, now face to face with Nick and Judy, all three a mixture of concerned, confused, and tense.

"This better be good." Inspector Fox led, the discontent in her firm voice falling as Judy walked forcefully into the room.

"Shut up, lock the door, and sit down." Hopps did not mess around, she was stern and commanding, the look in her eyes made it clear she would not tolerate any nonsense.

"I'd do what she says." Nick chimed in as he passed by the bewildered vixen.

"Are you two alright?" Carmelita questioned, closing and locking the door behind them, her tone changed, noting how the pair looked as if they had just finished running a marathon.

"What did I just say?" Judy was out of patience, the night's events had taken quite a toll.

Normally a feisty one, the Inspector had to suppress whatever heated rebuttal she was ready to throw back, knowing instantly this was more important than her ego. An angry sigh conveyed what she thought of the comment to her guests.

"Good. Now, your partner, where is he?"

"Winthrop? He was at the station finishing up some paperwork last I heard, probably spent the night there again… Why do you ask?"

"If he were in danger, who would he go to for help?"

"If he didn't freeze up, he'd go to me. What is this about?"

"Last question, do you trust him?"

"With my life." Carmelita looked Judy dead in the eye, both to emphasize her point, and to get a read on her, "Oliver may not be the best officer in the field, but everyone on my team is personally chosen because they are the best at what they do. If you want to stand there and question the integrity of one of my own, then you better start explaining what is going on."

"Sorry," Hopps relaxed slightly, "but right now we don't know who to trust."

"Long story short," Nick began to explain, "we pretty much solved the missing mammal case you've been working on, you can thank us later. Turns out carrots here is one of the next targets. Anyway, we go to the station to get help and the only one there is your weasel friend. All the radios in the place are dead, and the next thing we know, BAM! Here comes the scary-white-truck taxi service to pick up their passenger. Officer fearless there says he's going to get help and bolts out of the place. I hit the alarm and we decide running away doesn't sound like a bad idea either. And, after realizing I am horribly out of shape, we ended up here. The end."

"You think Oliver…" Carmelita's thought trailed off as she processed the interesting retelling.

"All we know is it had to be someone, and he was the only one with us." Judy spoke softly.

"Look, Winthrop is a lot of things, but a traitor is not one of them."

"I get where you're coming from, heck, he might have actually found help and is waiting at the station for us to get back, but right now if we are making assumptions, we have to assume the worst." The rabbit's voice held the sincerest form of sympathy, while still conveying the severity of the situation.

"Why come to me? Why not Bogo?"

"It was Nick's idea. We could have hid out and waited for the chief to respond to the alarm, but whoever is in on this might be in the department, we couldn't be sure they wouldn't get there first, and we were not sticking around to find out. We really had nowhere to go, until Nick suggested you. He was very adamant that if there is anyone we could trust to stand by the law, you were it."

Carmelita thought for a moment, not realizing she was still holding her pistol at her side. As soon as she remembered the weapon in her paw, she placed it down once again on that small bedside table. Her eyes met with the face of the clock yet again, her gaze held deeply, as if to turn back time, replaying the events described to her, knowing how a mammal she trusted might have been the cause of it all.

"So what do you want me to do?" She said, finally snapping attention back to her early morning guests.

"How quickly can you have your team together?"

"Under these conditions, about an hour… What are you two thinking?"

"Whatever's going on, we're ending it. Today." Judy struggled, trying to force a smirk to emphasize her plan, the mix of thoughts and emotions still racing around in her head preventing it.

"Get me the details and we'll be ready for briefing at 4:30." Hesitantly, the vixen agreed, happy to get this whole thing over with, but nervous about the current state of affairs.

"Right," Hopps turned to her partner, "can I see that file Nick?"

"I thought you grabbed it…"

"Oh no…" Their eyes went wide, both realizing everything they had on Longfellow was left sitting at the station. "Slight change of plan. Get everyone ready, we'll have to brief at the station."

"Don't worry," Carmelita could see the concern both of the officers had with going back, "you'll have the best security in the world with you."

With that the Inspector headed out into the hall, still in her pajamas, and began banging on doors. Her tough voice commanding the sleeping agents to get up, as this time she 'was not giving them warning shots'. Whatever that meant, it seemed to be quite effective. A minute later, she returned, the sound of mammals scrambling to get ready following her. Without a word, she grabbed her own gear and stepped into the bathroom to change.

"Really think this will work?" Judy asked after a moment, allowing the bustling noise to fade into the background.

"What part?" Nick responded with a quick laugh, nothing had gone as planned thus far.

"All of it."

"Our biggest problem now is timing, especially since it's Interpol. Too early, and Sly's in for a very bad day, too late, and Longfellow could realize what's up and be long gone by the time we get there."

"What about Winthrop?"

"If he's innocent, he'll turn up soon enough, and you can be the one to apologize. If not… then that's up to Ms. Fox to deal with."

"Why me?" The bunny sat down on the edge of the bed, staring down into her paws as she contemplated what was about to go down.

"Because I'm pretty sure you're the one who suggested it was him."

"No… I mean… how did I get caught up in this whole thing? Why am I the big target here?"

"Oh…" Her partner took a seat next to her, realizing it was not the time for lighthearted remarks, he took a deep breath, "I… I never knew my father."

Judy was caught off guard, she looked over to see Nick staring off at nothing. Just as she was about to question where the tangent was going, he started up again.

"Whenever I asked my mom about him she always told me the same thing. 'Life has its ups and its downs, the hard part is never knowing which one is coming next. You have to make the best of whatever life gives you, put on a smile and just go with it. Do that and I promise no matter how bad something looks, something good will always come out of it.' It's taken me a while to figure out what she really meant by that. I always thought it was about adapting to the situation, being able to improvise, all that stuff. And as a hustler, that worked. But then, a clever little bunny decided to screw everything up for me. When you dragged me along on your case that day I thought I was done, I thought I was going to end up in jail or dead. To be fair, we did come close to both of those things, multiple times in fact- Anyway, I never thought that would change my life for the better, I never thought I could be anything more than what I was, and I certainly never thought that evil cop dragging me to my doom would become the best friend I'd ever had. What my mom was trying to tell me, what I now understand, is that sometimes things happen that you just can't control. But that's not a bad thing. It might suck right now, but something good will come in the end. In this case, that's putting Longfellow behind bars and saving all of the mammals he's taken."

The two sat for a moment, giving time to process everything said.

"Oh, and nobody will be trying to kill us, that's always a good thing." Nick threw out the half-joking remark, never one to let his emotions linger.

"Yeah, though that never seems to last long." His partner replied in a similar tone, the advice helping slightly.

"Ready?" Inspector Fox spoke as she stepped out of the bathroom. Her uniform was crisp and, despite the time, she had the same energy as every other time the two officers had worked with her.

"I'm not sure ready is the right word." Judy replied, still uncertain.

"Don't worry," Carmelita assured as she retrieved her pistol from the table, snapping it firmly into its holster, "Everything is going to be just fine."

With that, she pulled open the door leading out of the cramped room. The hallway outside was filled with Interpol agents, all geared up, ready and waiting. As soon as the inspector stepped out, every mammal snapped to attention. Her team was proud to be the best of the best, and they showed it, even at four in the morning.

"Listen up!" Ms. Fox's imposing voice commanded while she motioned for Nick and Judy to stay put inside her room, "An alarm was just triggered at the ZPD headquarters. It may not be what we're here for, but it is our duty to support the ZPD in any way we can. The current situation is unknown, but assume danger. I will be carrying precious cargo, if anything happens, that is priority number one. You know the plan. Mount up! We leave now!"

Carmelita moved back into her doorway, watching as the stampede of burly officers rushed past, all heading straight for their vehicles.

"Alright," She said as the last of them ran by, "come on."

The 'precious cargo' was now free to follow the vixen to her own car. She intentionally did not draw attention to Judy or Nick during her quick speech, nor did she as the trio made their way out of the building. Knowing someone had to be in on the attack led her to take extra precautions, even though she had complete trust in her team.

Driving to the station took only a few minutes, the hotel Interpol had rented out was only a few blocks away. As they approached, a sense of relief briefly swept over the vehicle's occupants. There was a lot of activity clearly visible both in and around the building, showing the alarm had done its job. Inspector Fox's team quickly set up their own redundant perimeter just out front of the one created by the ZPD. An officer, following protocol, had to ID Carmelita before allowing her to pull into the parking lot.

"Hopps? Wilde?" The cop asked, looking both surprised and confused at the mammals sitting in the back seats. "Uh, go on in, I'll have Fangmeyer meet you, he's probably gonna want to talk to you."

Nick and Judy watched the officer talk into his radio as their car was waved forward, quickly parking near the station entrance. Just as they got out, Fangmeyer came bursting from the main doors.

"Ju- Ni- What in the- What- What are you doing here? What happened?" The tiger appeared out of breath as he rapid fired questions."

"Slow down big guy, use your words." Nick teased with sincerity.

"Inspector?" Fangmeyer noticed the additional fox standing in the group, "The weasel! Is he with you too?!"

"Oliv- No- he's not. What's going on here officer? Where is the Chief?" Carmelita questioned right back.

"Bogo! He- He took half the cops in the city- took them to find you two! But you two are right here!"

"Took them where?" Nick interjected.

"This warehouse place, it was on some thing he found in the station, said it was urgent, left me in charge here."

"I need to talk to him, right now." Judy stated in the most serious tone she had ever used.

Fangmeyer let out a sigh, calming down enough to get a complete thought out, "We lost radio contact about twenty minutes ago. I sent some officers as runners to find him then report back, but they just left."

"Do you still have that file?" Nick asked, working up a plan on the fly.

"Yeah, hang on." The tiger ran back inside.

"I see where you're going with this." Judy commented before turning to Carmelita, "Bogo's in trouble, get your team over here, we have to brief and leave a-s-a-p."

True to form, every Interpol agent was huddled around them within seconds of the command going out. Fangmeyer returned with the file just as the last mammals found their place.

"Thanks." Hopps said, taking the paperwork from his paw. Gesturing towards the group, she addressed their commander, "Inspector, may I?"

"Of course." The vixen replied, speaking then to her team, "Change of plan. Officer Hopps will brief you, listen closely as we have to make this quick!"

All eyes fell on Judy, not even Carmelita knew the case details about to be disclosed. Once again, the young bunny found herself at the center of the crazy ordeal, but this time she was not hesitant, she did not question why, she accepted it, and she rolled with it. She cleared her throat and began the briefing.

"For the past week, you have been working on a missing mammals case. A case spanning several countries, affecting dozens of innocent lives, including mine... Through a very interesting series of events, my partner Nick and I have identified the culprit responsible for all this, a giraffe named Henry Longfellow. He has a heavily secured compound down by the rivers, that is where we are going. This is a search and rescue, not just for the mammals this monster has locked up, but for some of our own. Earlier tonight, this station was attacked, I was the target. Winthrop went missing during the confusion. The ZPD has already sent a group to Longfellow's location in response, but we've since lost contact with them. I'm not going to lie, this is dangerous, but Carmelita ensures me you are the best… and I am counting on it. The ZPD is counting on it. The mammals being held against their will, being tortured… and killed… Tonight, we are all counting on it…"

She looked around, meeting every agent there eye to eye.

"If you truly are the best, this is your time to prove it."

* * *

It's been awhile...

I could say how finals are coming up so I'm stuck with school work, or how busy the holidays get for me, but those are just excuses. Honestly, I've been neglecting this story. My motivation to write really dipped and I tried to justify it thinking nobody cared about reading this. Then I happened to come across one of you guys recommending my story to someone else on the internet, and I realized that I am in fact an idiot. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you guys are the best audience I could ever ask for. I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long, thank you for being patient.

This adventure in storytelling has been incredible, and I still can't believe how far it has come. All good things must come to an end though, and we're just about there. If you are reading this, I sincerely thank you for sticking around, for reading, and for dealing with my terrible scheduling. The _last_ chapter is on its way, see you there.


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